The government is set to file an appeal against the Supreme Court’s (SC) judgment on Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani’s contempt of court case, and his counsel Aitzaz Ahsan will raise some 150 objections over the apex court verdict, sources said on Wednesday.
Sources said the objections would be raised on the short judgment of the SC and the poetic note by Justice Asif Saeed Khosa. The PM’s lawyer will also request that Gilani’s 32 seconds sentence be declared “illegal”, sources said, adding that the appeal would also insist that the PM had not committed contempt.
Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry has already hinted at the formation of a bench to hear the appeal, and it is expected that an eight-member bench headed by the CJP would hear the proceedings to review the verdict issued earlier by a seven-member bench. Meanwhile, Aitzaz met Gilani and discussed matters relating to the appeal against the SC verdict.
In the case on National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO), the SC had ordered the prime minister to write letter to Swiss authorities against President Asif Ali Zardari and others for reopening corruption cases against them. After the PM’s refusal to comply with repeated court orders, contempt proceedings were initiated against him. Gilani insists that Zardari enjoys absolute immunity until he occupies the office of the president.
