PAKISTAN

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani Thursday said that the government had never said it would not implement the decisions of the Supreme Court and that the President does enjoy immunity under Article 248.

Addressing the National Assembly here, the Premier asked the apex court to make interpretations on the matters which need spelling out and ‘we will act on the court’s decisions in light of the law and Constitution.’

“I cannot scrap the immunity that has been granted to the President by the Constitution and law,” he clarified.

He pointed out that the former attorney general neither belonged to his party nor to the opposition. “The former attorney general has filed a review petition challenging the Supreme Court’s verdict; how can I take action on this matter until the petition is with the court?” he questioned.

He said the judiciary has its own process for accountability while the leader of the opposition is ‘good enough for our accountability’. The army has its way of court martial, but the Parliament cannot hold the judiciary accountable nor it can use the way of court martial because we cannot infringe on its domain.

The Prime Minister said we also want that our domain should also be respected in a similar fashion.

He said, “why only a single case of President is discussed out of a long list of 8034 cases?”