Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani is likely to submit before the Supreme Court today (Monday) his written stance that he would prefer to go to jail instead of writing a letter to the Swiss authorities for reopening of graft cases against President Asif Ali Zardari.
Earlier on March 8, a seven-member special bench of the Supreme Court comprising Justice Nasirul Mulk, Justice Asif Saeed Khosa, Justice Sarmad Jalal Osmany, Justice Ejaz Afzal Khan, Justice Ijaz Ahmed Chaudhry, Justice Gulzar Ahmed and Justice Ather Saeed, had directed the prime minister to write a letter, without getting any advice and influence of the ongoing contempt proceedings, to the Swiss authorities for reopening of corruption cases against Zardari and submit compliance report along with his written statement before the court on March 19 or personally appear on March 21 to get his statement recorded over the matter.
However, instead of writing the letter in compliance with the court’s orders, the prime minister publicly repeated his stance on March 16 saying that the constitution as well as rules of business did not allow him to write a letter against his own president, therefore, he would not do so.
“If I write the letter, it will be a violation of Article 6 of the constitution and if I do not write one, it would be contempt of court,” he said, adding that the punishment for violation of Article 6 was death, whereas the sentence for contempt of court was six months’ incarceration, therefore he would rather be incarcerated than be handed a death penalty.
On the last hearing, the court had made it clear to the prime minister to implement para 178 of the NRO judgement passed by a 17-member bench on December 16, 2009, as it was his responsibility. The court had also directed the prime minister to submit his written statement on March 19 or appear on March 21 to get his statement recorded. The court had asked Aitzaz Ahsan to conclude his arguments within one week after March 21.
The court had directed Attorney General Maulvi Anwarul Haq to convey its order to the prime minister, as Aitzaz was not appearing in the NRO implementation case, rather he was defending the premier in contempt case.
The court had observed that it did not want to give its opinion instantly on the stance adopted by the prime minister over writing of letter to the Swiss authorities. Aitzaz had stated that his client wanted to submit a written statement in the matter.
PM likely to submit his stance before SC today
