Pakistan PM’s appeal against contempt charges dismissed

Pakistan’s Apex Court has dismissed the appeal made by Prime Minister Seyed Yousef Raza Gilani against its order to appear before it on February 13 to be formally charged for contempt of Court charges.

The charge against Gilani is failure to comply with the Supreme Court directive to write to Swedish authorities about the allegations against President Zardari. Aitzaz Ahsan , senior Counsel for Prime Minister Gilani strenuously pleaded before Court amidst observations from the Bench for two days. His bone of contention was that his client could not write since President enjoys immunity under the Constitution.

The order was made by an 8 member Supreme Court Bench chaired by Chief Justice Ifthikar Mohamed Chowdhry. Prime Minister Gilani has told the media that he would appear before Court in deference to its order.