Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has called opposition PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif a “confused” person who is confusing the people over the Premier’s conviction of contempt by Pakistan’s Supreme Court.
“Mr Sharif is confused. And he is trying to confuse the public over the court’s decision in my case,” Gilani said while talking to a group of lawyers at his Lahore residence late last night.
A seven-judge bench of the Supreme Court had on April 26 convicted Gilani and given him a symbolic sentence of less than a minute for refusing to act on orders to revive graft cases against President Asif Ali Zardari.
Since then, opposition politicians, including Sharif and Imran Khan, have asked Gilani to step down, saying a convicted person cannot hold the office of the premier.
Gilani, however, has told his critics that he will not cede his office unless Parliament disqualifies him.
The Premier is unhappy with the PML-N for launching a drive to oust him, sources close to Gilani said.
“I am utterly disappointed with the PML-N for what it is doing after the court’s verdict. The PML-N is misleading the people. We have always taken it along but on the contrary, it always stabbed us in the back whenever it got the opportunity,” Gilani said during yesterday’s meeting.
“Isn’t it ironic that the Sharif brothers want a different law for themselves and a different one for their opponents? The PML-N should not hold its own court and give its own verdicts,” he added.
The ruling Pakistan People’s Party, through constitutional amendments, had removed a bar on a person becoming Prime Minister for the third time at the wish of Nawaz Sharif, Gilani said.
“Now Sharif should wait patiently for his term,” he said. “I will not resign on anybody’s wish. I will also not succumb to any pressure,” Gilani said.
Only Parliament could decide if he should continue to serve as Prime Minister, he remarked.
Gilani reiterated the PPP’s stand on the cases of alleged money laundering against Zardari in Switzerland, saying no Prime Minister from the party will approach Swiss authorities to reopen the cases.
“We will not budge from our constitutional stance, come what may,” he said.
PTI