Not only the scared and politically unaware voters but the absent electors too helped the corrupt/inefficient candidates become legislators who then elected/produced wrong rulers.
Consequently, Pakistan continues to suffer from political quagmire as the ruling elite fails to realise the seriousness of defying the judiciary, breach of law and misinterpreting the constitution openly by asserting with full confidence that no prime minister would ever write letter to the Swiss authorities against the President.
Recently, the contempt of court case was concluded and the accused prime minster/chief executive of the federation of Pakistan is a convict now.
The criminal prime minister was sentenced briefly for a few seconds for contempt of court under Article 204(2) of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, 1973 read with Section 3 of the Contempt of Court Ordinance (Ordinance V of 2003) for the willful flouting, disregard and disobedience of the court’s direction contained in paragraph number 178 of the judgment delivered in the case of Dr. Mubashar Hasan vs the federation of Pakistan.
Clearly, the contemptuous attitude of PM Gilani has been substantially detrimental to the administration of justice for bringing the honourable judiciary into ridicule indeed.
Also, there are some serious consequences in term of Article 63 (1) (g) of the 1973 Constitution which may be read as mitigating factors towards the sentence passed against the prime minister.
The Order from the court does not, however, directly disqualify the Prime Minister as according the judgment, the conviction for contempt of court is likely to entail some serious consequences in terms of the said Article as it allows for the disqualification of any Member of Parliament who has been “convicted by a court for propagating any opinion or acting in any way that brings into ridicule the judiciary or Armed Forces of Pakistan.” But the Court used the language “likely to entail” because the right to terminate parliamentarians’ tenure is constitutionally vested in the Speaker of the National Assembly and the Election Commission. Thus, the outstanding issue remains whether Mr Gilani could have been automatically disqualified from holding public office.
Under Article 63 (2), once the Speaker has received notice of a parliamentarian’s conviction, he/she may forward the issue to the Election Commission within 30 days which must make a decision within 90 days. Therefore, the process to disqualify the prime minister has only just begun. It’s a long way to go as it offers a time consuming prescription. The Zardari's PPP is thankful to Aitzaz Ahsan for using delaying tactics to cause a judicial fatigue.
Punishing PM Gilani under Section 5 of the Contempt of Court Ordinance 2003 with symbolic imprisonment inside the courtroom #4 till the rising of the court was short lived. The honourable bench rose after announcing judgment -- but without effectively fixing the stubborn PM Gilani who wilfully ridiculed the top judiciary’s decision (with regard to writing a letter to the Swiss government for reopening of corruption cases against President Asif Zardari). Some legal experts, however, argue strongly that the PM stands removed from office.
The wording of "short order" clearly indicates that the matter of prime minister’s ultimate disqualification has been thrown in the parliamentary procedural tangle. Would the said conviction bring us any closer to the implementation of the original NRO order of the full bench? The answer is negative. And, the environment of uncertainty spawned by this display of ‘judicial restraint’ is likely to cause further deterioration of governance and the economy.
More political turmoil is fast approaching, as "Zardari regime" has no interest in following the law or obeying court orders. In fact, PM Yousuf Raza Gilani is devoid of any moral authority to rule the country no matter what technicalities his legal experts may manufacture.
Nevertheless, the prime minister appears to have been dealt with a severe blow because of his conviction. But the letter he was supposed to write remains unwritten. Definitely, the unruly rulers are fully determined to ignore the court with respect to writing to the Swiss authorities claiming that it would amount to putting BB's grave on trial.
By defying the orders of the Supreme Court over and over again, Mr. Gilani not only demonstrated that he has no respect for rule of law but also made it clear that his loyalty to Zardari goes far beyond the oath that he took as prime minister. In actuality, the criminals help each other.
Since the rogues are united to keep the president off the hook, Pakistan can’t get out of clutches of the certified political vultures.
Though, it appears with clarity from the short order of the seven-member bench of the Supreme Court in the contempt of court case that the prime minister has lost the moral and legal right to hold the post but the wording of the ruling — especially the mention of Article 63(1) (g) referring to the disqualification of the prime minister — is highly confusing and vague.
Until and unless hypocritical coddling is dealt with severely, the corrupt minds would continue to carry on with their dirty political schema. Therefore, Mr. Gilani must step down immediately to allow the justice to prevail in the best interest of Pakistan. Also, there is no justification left for him to stay in office any longer because he is now a heavy load on the national exchequer as well.
Most importantly, a number of inconsistencies/contradictions including the non sense of presidential immunity clause in the constitution of Islamic Republic of Pakistan need an urgent fix to accommodate the Islamic law and jurisprudence in entirety for better governance to ensure blind justice for all in the troubled country.
