Acquit or Punishment: Yusuf Raza Gilani arrives in the Supreme Court

The day of judgment is here, a seven-judge bench of the Supreme Court will decide the fate of Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani for deliberately defying its rulings by not writing a letter to the Swiss authorities for reopening graft cases against his boss, President Asif Ali Zardari.

While speaking in the National Assembly, the premier said he along with his cabinet would appear before the court for a third time and head to the court premises on foot to exhibit his honor for the superior judiciary.

In the meantime, the Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF) summoned Ali Musa Gilani, the son of the prime minister, to record his statement in the Ephedrine quota scam. In an unpleasant surprise, the father and son, Yusuf Raza Gilani and Ali Musa Gilani will appear to tribunals at almost the same time.

Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister, Khushnood Akhtar Lashari, who is also named in the Rs 7 billion drug scam, has been summoned by the ANF on Friday.

One cannot anticipate anything about court’s rulings until it announced its verdict in the contempt of court case. However, experts believe that the premier will have to pay for not complying court’s orders.

Gilani said that he was ready to face the consequences including six months imprisonment and a constitutional bar from holding any public office for a term of five-year.

He achieved the distinction of becoming the longest-serving premier of the country, making it clear that he would accept going to jail saying that he would neither bow before the court nor would he take the blame for being disloyal to his party.

Apparently there are two scenarios, acquittal or conviction. The chief executive will be morally bound to straight away step down but this is unlikely as his counsel Barrister Aitzaz Ahsan has claimed Yusuf Raza Gilani would still be the prime minister in jail.

Some experts believe that the seven-member bench may convict Gilani and sentence him until the rising of the court instead of sending him to jail for six months.

But even if his sentence ends with the rising of the case, they say, he would be considered a convict and thus disqualified to hold any public office.

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Posted by Faisal Farooq on Apr 26 2012. Filed under National, Pakistan. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.