No need for Yousuf Raza Gilani to quit, says Pakistani cabinet

Apr 26, 2012 |

IANS

Islamabad

Tags:

The federal cabinet on Thursday stood by Yousuf Raza Gilani whom the Supreme Court convicted for contempt of court, saying there was no need for the Prime Minister to step down. The opposition has demanded his immediate resignation.

The cabinet decided to wait for the detailed Supreme Court verdict in the contempt case, Geo News reported.

It was decided that the case was of political nature and there was no need for Gilani to resign on moral grounds.

Gilani was on Thursday convicted for contempt of court and awarded a symbolic sentence of about 30 seconds by the Supreme Court for refusing to write to the Swiss authorities to reopen a corruption case against President Asif Ali Zardari.

The conviction led to calls from the opposition for Gilani's ouster.

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) chief Nawaz Sharif said Gilani should step down from his position after being convicted by the apex court.

Nawaz Sharif said Gilani should pave way for a new elected Prime Minister.

"In light of the verdict, I think PM Gilani should resign immediately rather than prolong the issue," he was quoted as saying.

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader and former cricketer Imran Khan too said that Gilani should promptly resign.

Imran wrote on Twitter: "After SC judgement PM has lost whatever shred of legal & moral authority he had. He must resign immed & ECP must notify his 5 year disqual."

Federal Law Minister Farooq Naek and Attorney General Irfan Qadir briefed the cabinet in the meeting that was held after Gilani's conviction.

Gilani, who chaired the emergency meeting of the federal cabinet to review implications of the court's verdict, said he has never insulted the courts.

The ministers welcomed the premier with the thumping of desks.

Post new comment

<form action="/comment/reply/146441" accept-charset="UTF-8" method="post" id="comment-form"> <div><div class="form-item" id="edit-name-wrapper"> <label for="edit-name">Your name: <span class="form-required" title="This field is required.">*</span></label> <input type="text" maxlength="60" name="name" id="edit-name" size="30" value="Reader" class="form-text required" /> </div> <div class="form-item" id="edit-mail-wrapper"> <label for="edit-mail">E-Mail Address: <span class="form-required" title="This field is required.">*</span></label> <input type="text" maxlength="64" name="mail" id="edit-mail" size="30" value="" class="form-text required" /> <div class="description">The content of this field is kept private and will not be shown publicly.</div> </div> <div class="form-item" id="edit-comment-wrapper"> <label for="edit-comment">Comment: <span class="form-required" title="This field is required.">*</span></label> <textarea cols="60" rows="15" name="comment" id="edit-comment" class="form-textarea resizable required"></textarea> </div> <fieldset class=" collapsible collapsed"><legend>Input format</legend><div class="form-item" id="edit-format-1-wrapper"> <label class="option" for="edit-format-1"><input type="radio" id="edit-format-1" name="format" value="1" class="form-radio" /> Filtered HTML</label> <div class="description"><ul class="tips"><li>Web page addresses and e-mail addresses turn into links automatically.</li><li>Allowed HTML tags: <a> <em> <strong> <cite> <code> <ul> <ol> <li> <dl> <dt> <dd></li><li>Lines and paragraphs break automatically.</li></ul></div> </div> <div class="form-item" id="edit-format-2-wrapper"> <label class="option" for="edit-format-2"><input type="radio" id="edit-format-2" name="format" value="2" checked="checked" class="form-radio" /> Full HTML</label> <div class="description"><ul class="tips"><li>Web page addresses and e-mail addresses turn into links automatically.</li><li>Lines and paragraphs break automatically.</li></ul></div> </div> </fieldset> <input type="hidden" name="form_build_id" id="form-cc77a8023195d9f28e4e9530d861413d" value="form-cc77a8023195d9f28e4e9530d861413d" /> <input type="hidden" name="form_id" id="edit-comment-form" value="comment_form" /> <fieldset class="captcha"><legend>CAPTCHA</legend><div class="description">This question is for testing whether you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.</div><input type="hidden" name="captcha_sid" id="edit-captcha-sid" value="85694533" /> <input type="hidden" name="captcha_response" id="edit-captcha-response" value="NLPCaptcha" /> <div class="form-item"> <div id="nlpcaptcha_ajax_api_container"><script type="text/javascript"> var NLPOptions = {key:'c4823cf77a2526b0fba265e2af75c1b5'};</script><script type="text/javascript" src="http://call.nlpcaptcha.in/js/captcha.js" ></script></div> </div> </fieldset> <span class="btn-left"><span class="btn-right"><input type="submit" name="op" id="edit-submit" value="Save" class="form-submit" /></span></span> </div></form>