Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani submitting his reply before the Supreme Court (SC) in contempt case has again refused to implement the court decision.
While refusing to write letter to the Swiss authorities, the premier contended that the president cannot be thrown before a foreign court and requested the court to show restrain.
The reply asked the court to refer the letter issue to the parliament like the judges’ appointment matter. The PM also asked the court to withdraw March 08 order passed in his absence.
Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani while submitting his statement in the contempt of court case in the NRO Implementation has said that he surrenders to the judgment of the people of Pakistan according to the constitution.
The statement was filed by Aitzaz Ahsan’s associate Barrister Gohar with the Registrar Office of the Supreme Court in Islamabad on Monday.
The Prime Minister in his reply the people are the judges of the last resort in this world and leaving the matter to them will be the best course of action and also according to the sixth option formulated by the apex court.
Prime Minister Gilani said that all the cases abroad against the President had been conclusively closed by the competent authority of the concerned country and time for filing appeal had also lapsed.
He said the recommendations for not writing letters to the Swiss authorities were based on legal opinions including those of the former Law Secretary and a former Attorney General of Pakistan as well as other material and documents from Switzerland. He said that he acted on the advice expressed in the Summary put up by the Law Ministry. All other directions of the court had been complied with and implemented.
The Prime Minister said he has neither committed nor intended to commit contempt and acted strictly in accordance with the rules of Business. He said the prosecution has failed to link him to any wilful and contumacious disregard. There is thus no question of any wilful contumacy on his party.
Prime Minister in his statement maintained that the Head of State has absolute immunity in both criminal as well as civil jurisdiction of all other states under all international laws. He said he thinks it wrong to subject the constitutionally elected incumbent President of Pakistan to the authority of a magistrate of a foreign country and it should be avoided.
Prime Minister Gilani said that he has left with no option but to expressly invoke his fundamental right under Article 10 (A) of the constitution as a citizen of Pakistan and as an accused person before the apex court. He said going to the merits only to show that I have done no wrong nor I intend or seek to do a wrong. He said he only seeks the honorable bench to discharge the contempt and recall its order of March 8, 2012 in Suo Mottu case No. 4/2010.
The statement submitted by the Prime Minister consists of twenty four pages and eighty four paragraphs.
It is worth mentioning here that on the last date of hearing, a seven-member bench, headed by Justice Nasirul Mulk had told Aitzaz that he could submit a written reply on behalf of his client or apprise the Registrar Office if the accused contemnor wanted to appear in person.
The bench made it clear that in any case, the hearing would be resumed on March 21.
During the previous proceedings, Nargis Sethi, Secretary, Cabinet Division and the Ministry of Defence, had appeared and recorded her statement in support of the defence counsel.
Attorney General Maulvi Anwarul Haq also questioned Nargis Sethi.
The PM was indicted for contempt of court after his failure to address a letter to the Swiss authorities requesting them to re-open closed graft cases against his party head and President Asif Ali Zardari.
The court had issued a number of repeated directions to the federation to implement its order on annulled NRO, especially para 178 of the detailed judgment, dealing with the Swiss cases.
During one of his recent addresses, PM Gilani had clearly indicated his intentions when he stated that by writing the letter he could be charged with treason under the Constitution and he would prefer to go to jail for contempt which was only six months. SANA
