A five-year-ban on former Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani to contest for any public office over the contempt of court has expired on Wednesday.
The Supreme Court of Pakistan had reprimanded then-Prime Minister Gilani and sentenced him to a symbolic punishment over contempt of court.
Fiza Batool Gilani, daughter of the ex-premier tweeted on Wednesday: “Today, the five-year ban imposed on my father ends. Unlike Nawaz Sharif, my father did not get any solace from the courts. All this while, our family has endured and suffered even the most unbearable of times: the abduction of my brother.”
He was ordered to be detained in the court until the hearing was adjourned on April 26, 2012 for not acting in accordance with the court order and writing letter to Swiss authorities over alleged black money in foreign accounts belonging to PPPCo-Chairman Asif Ali Zardari.
Gilani was no longer eligible to contest for a public office for five years after being sentenced by the country’s top court.
The development had come in after the apex court held an ordinance passed by former dictator Pervez Musharraf unconstitutional in December 2009.
During his tenure, the former president and army chief approved National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) that gave the president and other lawmakers immunity over corruption references running for years.
The Supreme Court had ordered the then government of Pakistan People’s Party to write to Swiss authorities to reopen the case against Zardari after it was dropped following Musharraf’s ordinance.
However, premier at the time, Gilani did not write to the foreign authorities and was punished by a seven-member bench headed by Justice Nasirul Mulk.