Islamabad, May 26 (ANI): Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and his legal and political advisers, after discussing the pros and cons of challenging the Supreme Court's decision convicting Gilani in the contempt case, have decided not to file the appeal.
According to sources, the advisers were of the opinion that the advantage gained from the favourable ruling of the National Assembly Speaker should not be put to risk by going to the Supreme Court with the appeal, because the court may decide to remove what has been described as 'lacunas and ambiguity' in the shorter order and detailed judgment in the contempt case, reports The Dawn.
Information Minister Qamar Zaman Kaira said the appeal is ready and it is now up to the leadership to decide. He also defended the speaker's ruling in favour of Gilani and said it couldn't be challenged in any court of law.
"Being the custodian of a sovereign house which represents the will of the people, the speaker's ruling on the issue of disqualification of an MNA cannot be challenged anywhere," Kaira said.
The speaker, Dr Fehmida Mirza had decided against sending Gilani's reference to the Election Commission, arguing no such question had arisen following his conviction by the Supreme Court in the contempt case.
However, Justice (retd) Tariq Mehmood said Gilani would commit a serious blunder by not going into appeal, adding that "in the event of not appealing, his conviction would attain finality".
In such a situation, somebody would challenge the speaker's decision, which she has made in favour of Gilani, and there are chances that the court would disagree with her argument, he said, adding that in that event Gilani would face a serious crisis.
Prime Minister's adviser on political affairs Fawad Chaudhry believes that after the speaker's ruling, the issue of the prime minister's disqualification has been settled once for all. (ANI)