Pak SC summons Gilani, orders framing of charges against him
A seven-judge bench led by Justice Nasir-ul-Mulk issued the order this afternoon after hearing arguments from Gilani's lawyer Aitzaz Ahsan, who argued that the premier had not committed contempt by acting on the apex court's orders as the President had complete immunity from prosecution within Pakistan and abroad.
If Gilani is convicted in the contempt case, he will be disqualified from holding any public office for five years. He will also have the right to appeal any order convicting him within a period of 30 days.
"The court has ordered the framing of charges against Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani for contempt of court on February 13. He will be present in court," Ahsan told reporters outside the Supreme Court.
"My
advice
to
my
client
will
be
to
appeal
the
decision
but
he
will
have
to
decide...We
have
the
option
to
appeal,"
Ahsan
said
in
response
to
questions
from
journalists.
If
an
intra-court
appeal
is
filed,
an
appellate
bench
could
decide
to
suspend
the
order,
he
said.
Gilani had personally appeared before the bench when it first took up the contempt case on January 19 but he was exempted from further hearings.
The Supreme Court has been pressuring the government to reopen cases of alleged money laundering against Zardari in Switzerland after it struck down the National Reconciliation Ordinance, a graft amnesty passed by former President Pervez Musharraf, in December 2009.
In his arguments, Ahsan contended that the premier had done nothing wrong by deciding not to act on the court's order to reopen graft cases against Zardari.
Ahsan, one of Pakistan's top legal minds, and the seven-judge bench repeatedly sparred on various technical issues related to the President's immunity and Gilani's actions.
Ahsan maintained that the President had complete immunity from prosecution in Pakistan and abroad and the government could not ask foreign authorities to act against him.
The bench said the government should have acted on the apex court's order to write to Swiss authorities to revive cases against Zardari and then invoked the defence of presidential immunity
PTI