Financial qualifications: Gilani disqualification petition adjourned

Petitioner says discrepancies in PM’s statements show his ‘dishonest’ character.

LAHORE:

Lahore High Court Chief Justice Sheikh Azmat Saeed on Wednesday adjourned hearing on a petition which sought disqualification of Prime Minister (PM) Yousaf Raza Gilani.

Deputy Attorney General Naseem Kashmiri requested the court to dismiss the petition, because it was not maintainable. He submitted that the petitioner should instead approach the Election Commission of Pakistan under the Section 76 (A) of the Representation of People Act for an appropriate remedy.

Shahid Pervez Jami, the lawyer for petitioner Tariq Ahmad, had submitted that the PM did not fulfill the criteria of Article 63(1)(q), (f) and (n) of the Constitution. He said there were many contradictions in Gilani’s statement of assets and liabilities before the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) which he had submitted on November 25, 2007. The lawyer added that the PM’s spouse, Fauzia Gilani’s loan of Rs354.318 million had been written off while the remaining defaulted interest amount Rs45.521 million was paid in 12 installments but the default loan had stood when the PM filed his nomination papers.

The petitioner submitted that MPA Abdul Qadir Gilani on June 2008 had listed in his assets statement that he owned a house, 155/B in Defence, Lahore, which had been gifted to him by his father, Yousaf Raza Gilani. The PM, he said, had not listed the transfer of such a property in his statement before the ECP in June 2007.

He requested that the PM be disqualified from the post of prime minister on grounds of being dishonest.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 12^th, 2012.