Staff Report
KARACHI: Sindh High Court (SHC) has taken up as maintainable the constitutional petition against Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani on continuing his duties as the top executive of the country after his contempt conviction, SAMAA reports Saturday.

The province’s high court will begin hearing the petition from Monday.

The constitutional petition filed by Maulvi Iqbal Haider sought from court bar on PM Gilani from functioning as premier of the state.

Maulvi Haider’s plea says Yousuf Raza Gilani cannot run the affairs of the country after the ruling of the Supreme Court (SC) convicting him of contempt of court. It should be mentioned here that the apex court in its short order delivered on Thursday (April 26) in suo motu case against PM Gilani for willfully flouting the court orders for over two years, gave the imprisonment order for the historic smallest length i.e. 30 seconds.

The court punished him till the 'rising of the court' which spanned nearly 30 seconds. Later on, saying the verdict against him was inappropriate, the convicted PM chaired a meeting with coalition partners followed by an elaborate press conference headlined by his counsel Aitzaz Ahsan, who said an appeal will be filed against the ruling after detailed verdict is out.

However, asserting the verdict was wholly unjustified, Senator Ahsan noted the charge which was made the basis of conviction, is not present in the charge-sheet against his client.

The plea filed at the SHC urges Gilani to spell out as to under which law and authority, he still holds the position of premiership of the country. SAMAA