Pakistan’s defiant Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has said that no one could force him out of office through unconstitutional means and he would exhaust all avenues for a fair trial following his conviction of contempt by the Supreme Court.
‘I have no yearning to stick to power but I will take it to the finality and exhaust all avenues,’ he told journalists who accompanied him on an official visit to Britain.
He was speaking on Tuesday after the apex court issued its detailed order on the premier’s conviction last month. Asked about his refusal to implement the apex court’s orders for reopening graft cases against President Asif Ali Zardari and his subsequent conviction of contempt, Gilani said the Constitution explicitly spelt out the ways to remove a Prime Minister and that no one could force him out of office through unconstitutional means.
The Supreme Court issued a 77-page detailed verdict regarding the prime minister’s conviction for refusing to accept the court’ s orders to reopen graft cases against President Asif Ali Zardari in Switzerland, reported Xinhua.
Earlier, the court had delivered a short order, convicting Gilani for contempt and giving him a symbolic sentence of less than a minute on 26 April. In the short order too, the same bench had observed that Gilani faced possible disqualification.
'Apart from other consequences, a possible conviction on such a charge may entail a disqualification from being elected or chosen as, and from being, a member of Parliament or a Provincial Assembly for at least five years,' the court said in its detailed judgment.
‘I have no yearning to stick to power but I will take it to the finality and exhaust all avenues,’ he told journalists who accompanied him on an official visit to Britain.
He was speaking on Tuesday after the apex court issued its detailed order on the premier’s conviction last month. Asked about his refusal to implement the apex court’s orders for reopening graft cases against President Asif Ali Zardari and his subsequent conviction of contempt, Gilani said the Constitution explicitly spelt out the ways to remove a Prime Minister and that no one could force him out of office through unconstitutional means.
The Supreme Court issued a 77-page detailed verdict regarding the prime minister’s conviction for refusing to accept the court’ s orders to reopen graft cases against President Asif Ali Zardari in Switzerland, reported Xinhua.
Earlier, the court had delivered a short order, convicting Gilani for contempt and giving him a symbolic sentence of less than a minute on 26 April. In the short order too, the same bench had observed that Gilani faced possible disqualification.
'Apart from other consequences, a possible conviction on such a charge may entail a disqualification from being elected or chosen as, and from being, a member of Parliament or a Provincial Assembly for at least five years,' the court said in its detailed judgment.