LAHORE: Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani asserted on Sunday that no premier belonging to the PPP would write a letter to Swiss authorities to reopen graft cases against President Asif Ali Zardari.
“We will not budge from our constitutional stance, come what may,” he said while talking to a group of lawyers at his residence here.
The prime minister termed PML-N an ‘opportunist’ party and said its president (Nawaz Sharif) was trying to confuse the people over the Supreme Court’s verdict in the contempt of court case.
“Mr Sharif appears to be confused. Therefore, he is trying to confuse the public over the court’s decision in my case,” Mr Gilani said.
Punjab PPP Information Secretary Raja Amir, who was present on the occasion, told Dawn that the prime minister was displeased with the PML-N’s efforts to indulge in political point scoring on the Supreme Court’s verdict.
“I am utterly disappointed with the PML-N for what it has been doing after the court’s verdict. The PML-N is misleading the people, but we will not let it succeed. We have always taken the PML-N along and accommodated it, but it always stabbed us in our back whenever it got an opportunity,” the prime minister was quoted as saying.
Mr Gilani further said that the Sharifs wanted one law for themselves and another for others. He asked them to wait till the completion of the necessary legal procedure. “The PML-N should stop holding its own court,” he advised its leadership.He said the PPP, through constitutional amendments, had lifted the condition of becoming prime minister for the third time, primarily as desired by Mr Nawaz Sharif.
“I will not resign on anybody’s wish. I will not succumb to any pressure,” Mr Gilani said, adding that only the parliament could decide if he would continue to serve as the prime minister.
Raja Amir said that the prime minister had told lawyers that he had received more congratulatory messages after the Supreme Court judgment than when he was elected the prime minister.
Federal Law Minister Farooq H. Naek also called on the prime minister at his residence here and discussed some legal matters with regard to his conviction.—Zulqernain Tahir
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