Post-conviction: SC moved to bar Gilani, Cabinet from working

Petitioner claims that Article 63 is automatically applied after conviction.

ISLAMABAD:

The apex court was moved on Friday to bar Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani from functioning as the chief executive of the country and employing government resources and powers.

Advocate Azhar Siddique filed the constitutional petition through his counsel AK Dogar under article 184-3. The petitioner stated that the premier and the Cabinet should be barred from working under the said article.

After the release of the detailed verdict and the premier being convicted by the Supreme Court, Article 63 of the Constitution is automatically applied, he said.

The court should pass an order for him and his cabinet to stop their activities till the verdict on the petition, he requested.

The petition further stated that action from the National Assembly speaker or the election commission is uncalled for since neither have the authority to give an opinion on the Supreme Court’s ruling.

Siddique had filed the same petition to the Islamabad High Court on Thursday, but Justice Shaukat Aziz raised some objections on the plea on Friday.

Unable to satisfy the court, the petitioner withdrew his plea but submitted the same to the apex court a while later.

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