National Assembly Speaker to decide fate of Prime Minister Gilani

Following the Supreme Court of Pakistan has released its detailed verdict, the fate of Prime Minister Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani lies in the hands of one woman, Dr. Fehmida Mirza, the Speaker of the National Assembly.

Federal Law Minister, Farooq Naek, while speaking to the media said that the Speaker National Assembly only could decide the fate of the Prime Minister, who has been convicted by the apex court in contempt case.

According to the experts, a parliamentarian or outsider can file reference to Dr. Fehmida Mirza, asking her whether the premier could remain a Member of the National Assembly (MNA) or not. There is a timeline of 30 days following such a reference.

The Speaker will have three choices in case of such situation. Under the first option, the speaker remains silent and forward the reference to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) for its ruling as described in Article 63(2) of the Constitution.

The said ruling reads, “If any question arises whether a member of Majlis-e-Shoora (parliament) has become disqualified from being a member, the speaker or, as the case may be, the chairman shall, unless he decides that no such question has arisen, refer the question to the Election Commission within 30 days and should he fail to do so within the aforesaid period it shall be deemed to have been referred to the Election Commission.”

The speaker according to the second choice can herself dispatch a reference to the ECP, which has to take a decision in three months. Article 63(3) says: “The Election Commission shall decide the question within 90 days from its receipt or deemed to have been received”.

Under the third option, what the government is mulling to adopt, the speaker can reject the reference arguing that the premier does not merit disqualification in her opinion.

At the same time, she can also disqualify him is she so believe. The ruling of the speaker will be final in any of the both cases.

Legal experts believe that Article 63(2) gives such power to the speaker. A legal mind observed, “If the speaker declares that the prime minister is qualified to hold his office, his conviction will be automatically suspended”.

However, some legal experts believe that such decision could be challenged in the Supreme Court if the speaker ruled in favor of the Prime Minister. Salman Akram Raja was of the opinion there was no specific constitutional provision to deal the case.

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Posted by Faisal Farooq on May 10 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.