0
ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Tuesday released the detailed verdict in the Speaker ruling case, DawnNews reported.
The verdict states the reasons for the former prime minister's disqualification.
“It is held that after having been convicted and sentenced for contempt of Court he has been disqualified, ipso facto, from being a Member of the Parliament,” the verdict states.The case was decided by a three-member bench, comprising Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, Justice Jawwad S. Khawaja and Justice Khilji Arif Hussain which had heard a set of constitutional petitions challenging National Assembly Speaker Fehmida Mirza’s ruling over the reference against Gilani.
“The respondent did not file an appeal against the said judgment. Therefore, the judgment attained finality entailing all the consequences, including disqualification of the respondent from being a Member of the Parliament on and from the day and time of his conviction and sentence,” the detailed judgment states.The judgment moreover stated that Gilani had “ceased to be the Prime Minister of Pakistan…the office of the Prime Minister shall be deemed to be vacant accordingly”.
Mirza had rejected the April 27, 2012 reference sent to her office by Moulvi Iqbal Haider under clause (2) of Article 63. In it, Haider had prayed that the question regarding the prime minister’s disqualification be referred to the Election Commission of Pakistan, since Gilani had already become disqualified from membership in the NA as a result of the Supreme Court conviction. Mirza’s ruling had declared that based on the April conviction of Gilani, he was not disqualified in her opinion.
The petitions had been filed by the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), the Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf (PTI), Azhar Chaudhry advocate and others challenging the ruling of May 24 over the disqualification issue.
The case against Mirza's ruling had eventually led to the disqualification of Yousuf Raza Gilani from holding a seat in the parliament from the date of his conviction on April 26 by a seven-member bench for contempt of court. Moreover, his government was also sent packing as a result of the June 19 verdict.
Following Gilani’s dismissal and the issuance of arrest warrants for the Pakistan People’s Party’s first nominee Makhdoom Shahabuddin, Raja Pervez Ashraf was elected as the country’s 25th prime minister on June 22.
