Gilani refuses to write letter to Swiss authorities, again
Barrister Aitzaz Ahsan’s assistant Barrister Goher submitted Gilani’s 84-page reply in the Registrar Office of the Supreme Court. The premier maintained that the court had prejudiced his rights to defend himself.
Read the full reply here.
In the reply, Gilani also maintained his previous stance of not writing a letter to the Swiss authorities as President Asif Ali Zardari enjoys international immunity under the Constitution. He said that presenting the president before any foreign magistrate was a violation of the Constitution.
The premier maintained that once Zardari’s presidential tenure ends, the Supreme Court will not have any obstructions in carrying out proceedings against him.
Gilani gave two options to the Supreme Court and referred court’s earlier order of January 9, 2012. He said that the court could go ahead with one of the six options it gave earlier – to leave the matter up to the judgement of people, or refer the case to the parliament as it was done during the 18th amendment.
The Supreme Court will carry out its proceedings on March 21.
The premier was given an option to either submit written reply to the court on March 19 or appear before the court in person on March 21.
The Supreme Court demanded a compliance report by March 21 after the letter is written.
Prime Minister Gilani was served a contempt notice in the NRO implementation case when the government did not follow the court’s orders of writing a letter to the Swiss authorities to reopen graft cases against President Asif Ali Zardari.
You can read the full text of his reply submitted in the Court here.
COMMENTS (38)
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The corrupt take great pains to protect each other. They know their survival depends on mutual protection.
Gilani knows very well that if he writes the letter, he will be next.
Shame for PM, President and PPP.
All Pakistanis should pray to Allah so that the country can get rid of corrupt rulers. Present PM and President are the most corrupt politician in the country. They are dis-obeying the courts just to hide their corruption. Both of them should be punished so that other politicians learn lesson. All the looted money should be brought back from Swiss banks.
Both PM and President are biggest enemies of Pakistan. They will reap what they are sowing today. If rulers dont respect courts of Pakistan, then its bad luck of country. They are doing so just to save the looted money. The looted money belongs to poor people of Pakistan which should be brought back to Pakistan.
Gilani should write the letter in respect of decision of Supreme Court. He must be punished if he does not respect honorable court.
Wow what the honor,respect and supremacy of Supreme Court and its decisions in the eyes of PPP and in the PPP's regime!!!!!!! Very well and very impressive live example of Supreme Court's decisions' implementations and obeying by PPP.
Mr. President!....... if all that you say is so accurate then whats the big deal to write a letter ....... and if not then you must write a letter to show how law abiding Pakistani you are......
Yeah Yeah PPP is always victim....even they looted the whole country still they are victim....
This government is bent upon destroying the constitutional order in Pakistan. The political fame must end. The Court's own credibility is at stake. The Court has gone to maximum limits in allowing the PM a decent way out but the Zardari led regime is without shame.
This is a constitutional deadlock and this governement of thieves must go.
@SalSal: Comparing USA to our judiciary is an insult to our entire nation. USA is a very weak country, they are unable to break even a dot from their constitution where as we are able to break whole constitution without any fear or consequences. Our supreme court judges are made of whatever you can say, they are more powerful than parliament while USA judges are made of their parliament so they are weak to refute any clear constitutional matter. USA judges only interpret where there is doubt on any constitutional matter but our brave judges can ask the PM to break the constitution otherwise go to jail. In short you cannot compare as USA judges don't have any ego while ruling on any case while our judges' ego is made of steel.
Bhutto, BB, and now Gillani, PPP has always ridiculed the judiciary..
@SalSal: That's American Constitution my friend. And the counterpart of American President in Pakistan is the Prime Minister, not the President of Pakistan. Don't compare apples with oranges.
To your second remark: Supreme Court, Prime Minister, and the President are there as an act of Parliament. And whatever space they enjoy was given to them by the Parliament. Despite you wrongly suggesting otherwise, the PCO judges didn't have a right to encroach. They were wrong when they gave Musharraf right to amend the constitution, and they are wrong now by disfiguring the constitution.
To all those who are talking about immunity, when President Nixon was brought to the court in America and he claimed to have immunity, the court replied that it will decide whether the president has immunity or not. In a democracy the supreme court is above the president and the parliament not the other way round
I don't care about the laws of Pakistan and its Supreme Court . . . when the Prime Minister openly flouts them, why should I bother following them . . . I the tax payer is paying Gilani's extortionate expenses and look what I get for it. Until I don't get honest leaders I am not going to pay heed to any laws of Pakistan.
With utmost respect, I am constrained to state that a considerable segment of civil society including legal fraternity, are of the view that the Honorable Supreme Court bench appears, as having bias against the Prime Minister. Almost all senior lawyers declared that President of Pakistan is entitled to an unequivocal immunity regarding institution or continuation of criminal proceedings during tenure of his office, as president. A direct clash between the Chief Executive of the Country and the Apex Court is not in the interest of Pakistan, to avoid the consequential harm and injury, restraint must be exercised. Language of Article 248 (2) is clear, it states, " No criminal proceedings whatsoever shall be instituted or continued against the President or a Governor during his term of office." It is pertinent to note that the question, whether the President is or is not entitled to the immunity, as enshrined in Article 248 of the Constitution has not been decided so far. The Prime Minister has taken an oath to function in accordance with the Constitution,and to preserve and protect the constitution, he is in a fix, he has decided to follow the constitution. We can only wish that wisdom may prevail.
@IsmailTara:
the letter is ionly to re-open the cases against president Zaradari. The immunity issue will only arrive if the Mr. Zaradari is held responsible and convicted etc. These cases were revoked under the NRO granted to the leadership of PPP. It will be good for the reputation of the president to have these cases re-opened and have himeslf declared innocent. That will be my advice to him atleast. Fight the casess on merit and get a stamp of innocence once and for all. Otherwiase the damage to the most important institution i.e the supreme court would be irreparable. And hence the damage to the country unimaginable.
Good one Mr. PM! The Supreme Court's order is plainly unconstitutional. They are playing politics and now with the democratic consolidation achieved, the elected government can play politics with equal gusto. Non elected arms of the state will lose the eventually, even if they win small battles.
Bring Mush back. He knows how to deal with this born again judiciary and still get away with it all. A slap is worse than a cold blooded murder according to this PCO SC. Similarly throwing the whole SC and HC judges and their families is less of a crime than following the constitution not the individuals. No courage agaist Mush but all the courage against elected govt. Go figure!
These are bigoted demagogues not following laws at all and ruling country only on decrees. Shame Shame PPP Democracy !
Yes! Send it to people's court which is Parliament!
Prime minister we will supportu in this issue but if you had been taking following stand in past.
You finish the load shedding. All government department PIA, RAILWAY.STEEL MILLS are running in profit. There is stand against india regarding building of dam. There is stand against usa regarding Drone. You brought back all missing person including dr Afia
You make some practically work to eliminate the poverty of country. You take steps against corrupt people.
Unfortunatley you only protect PPP and ZARDARI
Why has it taken so long for the superior judiciary to bring him to this conclusion. The people understood from day one that he would not write the letter, this simply makes the superior court look ineffective and the perception that the CJ likes playing to the gallery appears less and less of a perception.
Dear PM Gilani Sahib, Please learn the basics of constitutional govt. and the doctrine of separation of powers between the executive, legislature and juidiciary. Interpretation and implementation of the constitution are the prerogative of the constitutional court which in Pakistan happens to be the SC. If you don't like their judgements, you just can't get parliament to cancel them.
@IsmailTarar
Nothing is soveriegn if there is no JUSTICE. remember the saying "No nation can servive without JUSTICE".
So your choice if you want to keep the moto "parliament is sovereign" and destroy your nation
I feel that the Pak PM statement of not writing the letter should be be pasted on the walls of the Supreme Court to end this high drama which is going on for more than year and hopefully, the court accepts it as a final reply and henceforth not ask Mr Gilani to comply with its instructions.
In matters of law the judiciary is supreme. The prime minister should have complied with the supreme court order. In the alternative, the supreme court has no option now but to hold the prime minister in contempt of the supreme court and deal with him accordingly. This does not augur well for relations between the different organs of the State. The prime minister may have been acuated by considerations of personal loyalty to the president but that's not the end of the question. A State is always a balance between the three organs: the executive, the legislature, and the judiciary, each of which has its own sphere. The supreme court was acting within its sphere. In my view, the prime minister is in error.
Keep it up and don't get cowed down in front of this born again judiciary. You are PM of 180 million people and not sub-servant to any one pillar of the state. All are aware what is going behind the curtains.
"Democracy" is best revenge
Can every citizen not demand the same from all courts?. PM is clearly defying the Supreme Court.He is in my view clearly in contempt
@pakistani politics, he doesn't need to say anything new. The question of immunity cannot be waived by the judiciary. The parliament is sovereign. The president enjoys immunity even if he is the most evil man on earth. And that's cause we are a democracy and we had the chance to vote. The SC is only aggravating the situation and is clearly biased.
Good going. The judiciary really needs to stop being biased.
Bravo! Way to go Mr. Prime Minister Sir!!!
way to go dude . keep making the mockery of the system. now as pakistani we are thinking about the complete new system where the courts are powerfull enough to dump the people like you with immediate effects.where the proceeding could not be protracted for too long where we could have the decision of the court and also implimented in no time. buckle up
Mr. PM whats the noble cause you are fighting for, please let the nation know in detail so that we can form our opinion.
Take that PPP opponents: You've been outwitted. For four years you were throwing arrows in the air.
In 84 pages reply, what did he said anything new? PM did u wrote anything except the statements u made in media, scolded Judiciary again??