Pakistan SC rejects Gilani contempt appeal

Pakistan's Supreme Court on Friday rejected the Intra Court Appeal (ICA) filed by Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani requesting it to suspend its decision of framing contempt charges against him for his refusal to reopen graft cases naming President Asif Ali Zardari.

Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry said: "The appeal is dismissed."

The decision was arrived at by an eight-member larger bench that heard the appeal filed by PM's counsel Aitzaz Ahsan against the decision of a seven-member SC bench.

Gilani will now have to appear before the SC on Feb 13 for contempt proceedings.

A show-cause notice had been issued to the Gilani on Jan 16, 2012 for not implementing the apex court judgment on a corruption case over National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) dated Dec 16, 2009 that named President Zardari.

The Prime Minister appeared before a seven-member bench and stated that implementation on NRO judgment was not presently possible as the President has immunity under article 248 of the Pakistani constitution.

On Feb 2, 2012, the bench decided to frame charges against the premier on Feb 13, 2012 and in an appeal filed through his lawyer on Wednesday, Gilani pleaded before the court to repeal its order and suspend the proceedings against him.

The chief justice questioned Gilani's counsel on how he could include paragraphs in his appeal which say that the contempt case cannot be initiated against a prime minister who helped in restoring the judges.

An increasingly assertive judiciary that has been progressively tightening screws on the country's embattled leadership in recent years and may have been further emboldened by widespread resentment of the government, has already called Gilani a ´dishonest' PM.