Religio-political parties have welcomed the announcement by Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani to appear in the Supreme Court against the contempt of court notice.
The Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) praised the PM’s statement in the National Assembly to personally appear in the apex court, but demanded resignation of the prime minister as well as President Asif Ali Zardari.
Spokesman for Jamiat-e-Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) Maulana Amjad Khan told Online that appearance of the prime minister before the Supreme Court would set a good precedence in Pakistan.
“His submission before the court is in accordance with Islam and law of the land, this is an encouraging trend,” he added.
Not only the JUI-F, but JUI-S Chief Maulana Samiul Haq also encouraged the government’s decision.
He told Online that resignation of the government would not resolve the issue. The JUI-S chief said, “Instead of resignation, preparing a conducive environment for elections within a year would be a wise decision and would be helpful for democracy in the country.”
JI spokesman Farid Paracha said appearance before the court was a right decision. “But the government’s members, including the prime minister, indulged in contempt of court a number of times,” he said.
Paracha said, “Only the contempt of court is not an issue of this government, under President Zardari and Prime Minister Gilani, corruption was promoted and the government has failed to address the people’s problem, I say resignation by both of them would be a further positive development.” However, all religious parties agreed that any unconstitutional step would be opposed, saying they wanted change through democratic means.
