Pakistan Premier Yousuf Raza Gilani on Wednesday filed an appeal in the Supreme Court against its order summoning him for framing contempt charges over his failure to reopen graft cases against the President Asif Ali Zardari.
After the 200-page intra-court appeal was filed by Gilani's lawyer Aitzaz Ahsan seeking suspension of the order summoning him on February 13, Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry decided that an eight-judge bench headed by him would take it up on Thursday.
While filing the appeal yesterday, Ahsan had sought an early hearing and suggested that the matter could be taken up on Friday.
The Chief Justice responded that the case could be listed for Thursday as the apex court had a busy schedule on Friday. In the appeal, Ahsan asked the apex court to suspend its decision summoning the Premier.
The appeal asked the court to postpone the indictment, saying the ruling was issued without Gilani being given an opportunity to defend himself directly.
On February 2, a seven-judge bench of the apex court had summoned Gilani to appear on February 13 to be indicted for contempt over his failure to act on its order to pursue corruption cases against President Asif Ali Zardari.
The order added to the tensions between the government and the judiciary.
If Gilani is convicted of contempt, he could be jailed for up to six months and disqualified from holding public office for five years.
The appeal pointed out over 50 legal and constitutional points which support the view that the Premier did not go against the Constitution by not reopening the cases against Zardari.
The Supreme Court has been pressuring the government to revive cases of alleged money laundering against Zardari in Switzerland since it struck down a graft amnesty issued by former military ruler Pervez Musharraf in December 2009.
The government has refused to reopen the cases against Zardari, saying the President enjoys complete immunity from prosecution in criminal cases in Pakistan and abroad.
