The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Friday dismissed a petition seeking to prohibit Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani from performing his official duties. Following Gilani’s conviction by the Supreme Court, Maulvi Iqbal Haider filed the petition on Thursday, requesting an urgent hearing. Haider’s another petition seeking Gilani’s disqualification is already proceeding in the SHC. The court, in that case, had issued notices to the federal government through the attorney general of Pakistan who never appeared in court. On Friday, an SHC division bench comprising Justices Maqbool Baqar and Muhammad Shafi Siddiqui heard the arguments of Haider and the counsel who had appeared in court on behalf of the government, following which the application was dismissed. The bench said in its order that the petition was of the same nature that was filed in 2011 and the Supreme Court had already decided the matter. In his application, Haider submitted that Gilani had been disqualified after the decision of the apex court and that by disobeying the court’s orders, he had already been rendered ineligible for any public office according to Article 63(1)g of the Constitution of Pakistan. Haider said that he had sent the reference to the National Assembly speaker, but she has not forwarded the same to the Election Commission of Pakistan. He added that the Supreme Court had discussed Article 63(1)g in its conviction order of Gilani and that according to this article, the premier stands disqualified. He prayed to the court to issue directives to the National Assembly speaker and other authorities concerned to prevent Gilani from using his office until the decision of the petition.
