‘Bad Precendent’: Asma Jahangir criticises PM conviction

Says disqualification of a parliamentarian required a lengthy process.

LAHORE: Former Supreme Court Bar Association president Asma Jahangir expressed displeasure over Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani’s conviction on Thursday. She added that Pakistan had become a country which had a convicted chief executive and said the judiciary should have considered this before convicting the prime minister. Asma was speaking to the media outside the Lahore High Court after the Supreme Court announced the verdict in the NRO non implementation case on Thursday morning. Responding to media queries, she said the disqualification of a parliamentarian required a lengthy process. A reference will be filed before the National Assembly speaker to begin the process. She added that the court’s decision had set a bad precedent, and if it continued there would be no prime minister in the country. “I salute the judiciary but will salute it thrice when a dictator will be sent home by the judiciary,” she said.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 27^th, 2012.