ISLAMABAD: Hours after being summoned by the Supreme Court for a second time to face contempt proceedings, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani told the National Assembly on Thursday that he would appear before the judges again on Feb 13.
He made the announcement during a brief speech in which he assured the opposition of his government’s cooperation in seeking any possible improvement in the framework for future elections, but used the occasion to also emphasise his oft-repeated theme that all state institutions must work within the limits prescribed by the country’s constitution and that parliament was supreme over all others.
“I had appeared before the judiciary earlier also and now that they have called me again, I will appear (before them),” he said in what seemed to be a mood of non-confrontation.
“Everybody should follow the constitution of Pakistan,” the prime minister said and added: “If all institutions work in accordance with the 1973 constitution, there will be no criticism (and) all institution are answerable to parliament.”
The prime minister made his first personal appearance before a seven-judge bench of the apex court on Jan 19 to answer charges of contempt for not writing to a Swiss court to reopen a case on disputed graft charges involving President Asif Ali Zardari on the plea that the president enjoyed a constitutional immunity from prosecution by dint his office.
After a hearing on Thursday morning, the bench again summoned the prime minister to appear on Feb 13 to hear framing of charges against him.
Before coming to the National Assembly in the evening, Mr Gilani was briefed about the court proceedings at the Prime Minister’s House by his lawyer Aitzaz Ahsan, PPP information secretary Qamar Zaman Kaira told Dawn.
Other senior members of the ruling party present on the occasion, according to him, included Commerce Minister Makhdoom Amin Fahim, leader of house in the Senate Nayyar Hussain Bokhari and former federal minister Raja Pervez Ashraf.—R.A.
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