Appeal to suspend Pak SC contempt charges against Gilani to be filed soon

Pakistan Telegraph (ANI) Sunday 5th February, 2012

An intra-court appeal requesting Pakistan's Supreme Court to suspend its decision of framing contempt charges against Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani is expected to be filed in a couple of days.

"We are in the process of preparing the appeal which may take a couple of days more and will be filed instantly afterwards," The Dawn quoted an associate of Barrister Aitzaz Ahsan, the counsel for the prime minister, as saying.

On Thursday, a seven-judge bench had moved a step closer to finding the prime minister guilty of contempt of court and summoned him on February 13. Gilani will appear before the bench, headed by Justice Nasirul Mulk, and will be finally indicted.

Reports suggest that the court will, however, provide him an opportunity to respond to the charges while postponing the further proceedings for a few days. Soon after the bench had announced its decision to charge the prime minister with contempt, Barrister Ahsan sought a month's time to file the intra-court appeal against the ruling.

Later talking to reporters, he said he would suggest to the prime minister to consider moving the appeal against the decision. In the evening the same day, he had briefed the prime minister and other leaders of the PPP on the legal implicationns of the court proceedings.

Ahsan only has a week to file the appeal because the prime minister has been summoned by the court on February 13. If filed the appeal will likely to be placed before a bench comprising the rest of the remaining nine judges of the Supreme Court within the next week. (ANI)