Speaker's ruling: Aitzaz requests larger bench for high priority case

Aitzaz says Speaker’s office was not a ‘post office’, adds that she too has the right to use her own brain.

ISLAMABAD: As the hearing of the Speaker's ruling case began in the Supreme Court, Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani’s counsel Aitzaz Ahsan, while presenting his case, proposed the formation of a larger bench, saying that the case was of high priority, Express News reported on Friday.

While presenting his case, Aitzaz said that the Speaker’s office was not a ‘post office’, adding that she too has the right to use her own brain. He also added that the attitude of the judges who took the decision was not objective.

“I am a judge myself,” remarked Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry. “I will not let you speak this way about judges,” he said.

When the chief justice asked Aitzaz why they had not filed an appeal, he replied that they had accepted the sentence and since there was no issue of disqualification, there was no need to file an appeal.

“Not filing an appeal does not affect this case,” remarked Aitzaz, to which the chief justice said that the court was not going to include this point. “Tell us your next point,” said the chief justice.

In response, Aitzaz refused, and received a “thank you, don’t tell us” as a reply from the chief justice.

Speaking to the media after the hearing was adjourned till June 18, Aitzaz said that he had presented his case as per Article 63(1)(h).

The article states that a person shall be disqualified from being a member of the parliament if he has been, on conviction for any offence involving moral turpitude, sentenced to imprisonment for a term of not less than two years.

In the previous hearing, an altercation started in the courtroom during the hearing after the lawyers and Attorney General Irfan Qadir exchanged harsh words.

The argument started when the attorney general claimed that all the judges, who had convicted Gilani, had “run away” from the court’s premises just as the verdict was announced.

Earlier, the Supreme Court had admitted for hearing petitions filed by Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) against the ruling of Speaker National Assembly over the disqualification of the Prime Minister.