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Verdict out: SC convicts Gilani of contempt
Firdous Ashiq Awan says verdict will be appealed in the court and that a petition will be filed for it.
Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani (C) is escorted by security as he waves upon his arrival at the Supreme Court building in Islamabad on April 26, 2012. PHOTO: AFP
ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court of Pakistan convicted Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani on Thursday during the announcement of a verdict in the contempt proceedings against him and sentenced him till the rising of court, Express News reported.
The bench found Gilani guilty of contempt of court for refusing to reopen corruption cases against the president, but gave him only a symbolic sentence of a few minutes’ detention in the courtroom, while he did not receive any jail term.
“For reasons to be recorded later, the prime minister is found guilty of contempt for wilfully flouting the direction of the Supreme Court,” said Justice Nasirul Mulk.
A seven-member bench, headed by Justice Nasirul Mulk announced the verdict and convicted him for violating Contempt of Court Ordinance 2003 section 5 and the charges framed against him were for willfully disobeying the court’s orders and ridiculing it.
The court cited article 63 (1) (g) of the Constitution and observed that the premier might face consequences under it.
The judicial bench exited the courtroom as soon as the verdict was announced.
The Article 63 (1) (g) of the Constitution says:
63. Disqualifications for membership of Majlis-e-Shoora (Parliament).
(1) A person shall be disqualified from being elected or chosen as, and from being, a member of the Majlis-e-Shoora (Parliament), if:-(g) he is propagating any opinion, or acting in any manner, prejudicial to the Ideology of Pakistan, or the sovereignty, integrity or security of Pakistan, or morality, or the maintenance of public order, or the integrity or independence of the judiciary of Pakistan, or which defames or brings into ridicule the judiciary or the Armed Forces of Pakistan.
The premier was charged with contempt by the apex court in February for refusing to write to the Swiss authorities to ask them to reopen graft cases against President Asif Ali Zardari.
Minister for National Regulation & Services Firdous Ashiq Awan said that a special cabinet meeting will be convened which will be chaired by Gilani and President Zardari will also attend the meeting, who arrived in Islamabad on Wednesday night.
The session will be attended by chief ministers and governors of all provinces except Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif.
Awan also said that the verdict will be appealed in the court and that a petition will be filed for it.
“This is a historic day. The court has declared a lawmaker a lawbreaker. This is weakening democracy in Pakistan.”
Earlier, with rose petals being showered at him, Gilani was escorted by the members of cabinet to the Supreme Court.
Gilani was accompanied by his son Abdul Qadir Gilani, Interior Minister Rehman Malik and other members of the cabinet.
The prime minister has appeared twice before in court and has maintained his innocence throughout, saying he had done nothing against the rules of business. Aitzaz, meanwhile, had argued that the bench was not eligible to hear the case as it had taken the notice itself.
During the hearing, two following two orders were announced:
First order
For the reasons to be recorded later, the accused Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani, Prime Minister of Pakistan/Chief Executive of the federation, is found guilty of and convicted for contempt of court, under Article 204 (2) of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, 1973, read with Section 3 of the Contempt of Court Ordinance (Ordinance 5 of 2003) for wilful flouting, disregard and disobedience of this court’s direction contained in paragraph number 178 of the judgment delivered in the case of Dr Mubashir Hasan versus the Federation of Pakistan (PLD 2010 SC 265). After our satisfaction that the contempt committed by him is substantially detrimental to the administration of justice and tends to bring this court and the judiciary of this country into ridicule.
Second order
As regards the sentence to be passed against the convict, we note that the findings and the conviction for contempt of court recorded above are likely to entail some serious consequences in terms of Article 63 (1) (g) of the Constitution which may be treated as mitigating factors towards the sentence to be passed against him. He is, therefore, punished under Article 5 of the contempt of court ordinance (ordinance 5 of 2003) with imprisonment till the rising of the court today.
Former law minister Babar Awan said that according to sub-article 3 to Article 63 of the Constitution, the speaker and chairman of Senate can decide whether the premier will be disqualified or not.
Speaking on the premises of the Supreme Court, he corrected the media reports which were claiming that if the speaker and chairman senate do not take a decision in 30 days, the case will automatically go to the Election Commission of Pakistan, which Awan said was wrong.
He said that the case will only go to ECP if the speaker and chairman senate say that they will not take the decision in this regard.
Correction: An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated that the premier was convicted for violating Article 63 (1) (g) and that he will be disqualified from taking part in elections for five years.
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justice delayed justice denied
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In Pakistan, the Prime Minister can get convicted by a court but no terrorist ever gets convicted due to ‘lack of evidence’.
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In face of Corrupt the Supreme Court has succumbed.
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If the Pakistani citizens are troubled by the current lot mis-ruling Pakistan, whether at federal or provincial or district level, they should perform their RESPONSIBILITY and VOTE on election day.
Election day is not some chutti (holiday) for sleeping, watching TV or movies.
It is your RIGHT and RESPONSIBILITY to vote for whoever you think deserves your vote.
Look in your own garaybaan (within yourself) and ask whether your name is on voters’ list, whether you are registered to vote and whether you have done your responsibility as a citizen of Pakistan.
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@Tehreek-e-Insaf FATA:
Unless, you are peon of armed forces. The day Judiciary is able to punish people in the uniform for their corruption we will be slaves.
There are thousands of them who have done more corruption than any elected representative but they are above everything in Pakistan.
I don’t care whether or not Gilani was convicted I more care for the inequality in the society and the system. We have been able to hang a sitting PM before but are we able to control our so called guardians or are they above the constitution and elected representative and indirectly the 18 million people of Pakistan
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Good work, first time SC made a reasonable decision.
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if the current lot of mis-ruling elite is bad, then vote in next election
stop complaining and do your duty. vote.
election day is not holiday, film day, sleeping dayRecommend
It’s a very clever verdict against him..otherwise had been given a long sentence to him.he would be declared as champion or martyr by PPP..proud of judiciary!
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All eyes are focussed on the PM, Yusuf Raza Gilani. But the man behind the scene, to protect whom Gilani is doing what he is doing, is safe behind the ‘constitutional immunity.’ It goes without saying that the party that came to power as a result of the NRO, knew very well that its co-chairman was playing on a weak wicket, and unless elected to the post of president, might soon be in trouble. So he was made president.
The rest of the story is well known to all. More would follow, but it would be the logical result of the preceding events–the events of the last five years or so, starting with the negotiations between Musharraf and the PPP that led to the NRO!!
Now they are setting a bad example. May Allah give them the strength and the foresight to see the right path.
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@ubaid:
“is this a joke??”
No no. Not at all. This is a serious attempt at getting into Guinness Book of Records.
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So, court announce the sentence and he face it and free from court……….But the main issue is still there…..Swiss accounts. What sentence give the people of Pakistan. They are still waiting their money back……What will be the next step of Court for this issue. We just want the the money come back from Swiss accounts. Sentence is not solution of problem
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So, court announce the sentence and he face it and free from court……….But the main issue is still there…..Swiss accounts. What sentence give the people of Pakistan. They are still waiting their money back……What will be the next step of Court for this issue. We just want the the money come back from Swiss accounts. Sentence is not solution of problem
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Meaningless conviction. The verdict is nothing but savig face by the court. They could not enforce the verdict.
“Imprisonment till rising of the court today” what is that minutes? Sentence is over before Gilani walked out the door because the cour has risen.
It is joke and just proved judiciary can’t enforce their own judegment.
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I cannot decide who has ridiculed the judiciary more; Gilani, by wilfully not carrying out the court’s orders, or the SC that sentences such a criminal to a 30 second ‘imprisonment’ till ‘the rising of the court’ – I wonder what this ‘symbolic’ imprisonment represents.. maybe how many seconds would a petty thief be entitled to?
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Funny Country, Funny people, funny leaders, funny acts, funny judiciary and funny verdicts :)
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The conviction is neither here nor there. He could have been convicted for one day simple imprisonment to meet the parameters of justice.
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There is no moral justification left to hold the office of premiership. The ruling orligarchs are violating the sanctity of the institutions, law and constitution. It is unfortunate that they will back to the constituencies for begging votes with huge awards of corruption, maladministration and bankruptcy. Over 18 crore will again be deceived.Recommend
Knowingly, they are pushing the system into chaos and polarization. Know the people who are the instigators of intolerance and backwardness in our Pakistan. Know that these are the people who patronize Salman Taseers’ killer, Know that these are the robes that set terrorists free knowingly, and all because they can’t bear the presence of a progressive political party ever since it came into existance. The highest level of intolerance achieved today. A dark day in our history but it reinforces the fact once again that Nawaz will never be a prime minister no matter how much sway he has over the current CJ, and that is because people of Pakistan are far more informed about nawaz and his party now than ever before.
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@ali gilani:
Progressive political party? the PPP? Progressively corrupt maybe. A dark day in our history? I’m tempted to assume that you have a vested interest in the PPP..The darkest day in our history was when our current president assumed office and this ridiculous government was allowed to start robbing the country blind. Recommend
Whats fun in convicting a person if he z not punished???? Why only symbolic punishment??
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Drama, action, comedy, tragedy.
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@ashok:
“What is the root cause of this shameful situation?
NRO
Who is responsible for NRO?
Who else could play with the fate of Pakistan?
Pakistan establishment or deep state who engineered the NRO.”
You deserve my appreciation for the perfect analysis of the situation, though on numerous occasions I strongly disagreed with your point of view for the obvious reasons of propagating one sided Indian stance.
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Guys, this is why every true Muslim wants shariat law. We need to establish a Islamic caliphate to get justice.. Khan & just imran khan can do it
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PPP won election in Multan today. This is the reaction from people.
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we live in a country where the judiciary takes the role of self- mockery!
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Get ready for the “Tsunami March!!”
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Great Technical Decision by Supreme Court. President has no option of Pardon for Yousuf Raza Gillani. POLICE Stop Corruption in Pakistan. Gillani is the support of Zardari Corruption
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Its not a joke. It was a slap on the face of this government. No where in the world a PM is convicted …
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Cunning decision by the court. People think he got away but no guys he just lost a chance of becoming a “political shaheed” which is no less than shameful for PPP.Recommend
@Najam:
Good joke Najam. We have definitely learned half of the constitution by PPP constant violation of it and their never ending cases.
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It was a show-trial! This symbolic sentence of a few minutes’ detenion in court was a farce. He should have been impeached and kept away from office till he gets exonerated.
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what a shame if prime minister has a little bit self respect left he shouldn resign from his post
what a politicians we have wow
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@Umar:
He was sentenced for 30 sec.
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PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif and PTI chairman Imran Khan have demanded resignation from Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani. Imran Khan also said Supreme Court showed that everyone is under the law by convicting Prime Minister.
In my and many other people’s mind there is a question that how a common man and Prime Minister is same. A common man case is run for years but Yousuf Raza Gilani was completed in three months, his punishment was only for 32 seconds whereas common man has to suffer millions of minutes.
If Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani is forced to resign by opposition (which includes PTI) then a common man like me will believe that everyone in Pakistan is under the one law.
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SC judge are no different than Hafiz Saeed like.
It is so funny that judges are asking Executive to obey order which is unconstitutional in any democratic country then handing over a verdict against him. A monkey brain can make a better judgement. And above all, all these happy commentator does not know the ramification of this judgement on world stage. SC judge has made Pakistan democracy as laughing stock all over world. They should have think through this before acting on this case or appeal. They have pushed Pakistan toward another 1971.
Singh From Chicago.
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Mr Prime Minister….i salute to ur loyalty and your courage…you will always be remembered a PM who faced the wrath of a biased judiciary and a foe establishment…Hats off
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sack CJ
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officially we have a convict as a head of state …… the title should be renamed as crime minister
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PM has no right to hold the office now. May save Pakistan from such corrupt PM.
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Jeay Bhutto and down with PCO judges!
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Whatever the punishment either 30 second or 30 years. The question arises that who get punishment who done mistake. Before the SC decision,PM said he respect the SC and laws and will accept whatever the decision for me.
When the PM of country will not accept the SC decision than what will be common man.
This is our country.
.
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