Gilani vows to appear before Pak SC on Feb 13 for contempt case

Islamabad, Feb 3 (ANI): Pakistan Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani has said he will appear before the Supreme Court on February 13.

"I appeared in the apex court last time and will do the same on the next hearing also," The Daily Times quoted Gilani, as saying.

On Thursday, Pakistan's Supreme Court had indicted Gilani in the contempt case, and asked him to appear before it on February 13.

A seven-member larger bench of the Supreme Court (SC) comprising of Justice Nasirul Mulk, Justice Asif Saeed Khan Khosa, Justice Sarmad Jalal Osmani, Justice Ejaz Afzal Khan, Justice Ijaz Ahmed Chaudhry, Justice Gulzar Ahmed and Justice Athar Saeed is hearing the show cause notice served upon the Prime Minister in the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) implementation issue.

During Thursday's hearing, Ahsan argued that following the chief justice's earlier order, Gilani was supposed to seek advice from the Law Ministry and the Human Rights Division before taking any action, and the advice he received in the NRO implementation case was not in favour of the court's decision.

"In any civil or military issue, the government has to consult the Law, Justice and Human Rights Division. According to the Rules of Business 1973, the prime minister should have consultations before taking any decision," he added.

Justice Nasirul Mulk, heading the nine-member bench, said that Gilani was efficient in listening to the Law Ministry and the Human Rights Division, but did not give due consideration to the court's orders.

"The prime minister has the right to turn down Law Ministry's advice," Justice Athar pointed out.

He also stated that the Swiss court looking into the matter had itself closed the case, saying that there was no adequate evidence. (ANI)