LAHORE: Former prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani says the Supreme Court verdict in his case was in fact against parliament.

Speaking to reporters after offering condolences to the family of rights activist the late Asma Jahangir here on Sunday, he said the judiciary hadn’t disqualified him but penalised for a few seconds for not writing a letter to Swiss authorities against then president Asif Ali Zardari.

He explained that then National Assembly speaker Fehmida Mirza had consulted legal experts and declared him not disqualified after the court’s verdict in a contempt case so “the verdict was against parliament and not my person.” But, he said, he did not challenge the court order just to avert confrontation between institutions.

Referring to the legal lacunae in the verdict in Nawaz Sharif’s disqualification case, the ex-premier said only parliament could resolve the issue.

Responding to a query, he said the PPP would never support any unconstitutional step and would wish to see that both Senate and general election polls were held in time.

Talking about the PML-N victory in Lodhran by-polls, the politician from Multan said the elections were between the PTI and the PML-N and the candidate issued the PPP ticket had joined the party two months before the elections (therefore none in the party expected any better result).

He said they were focusing on re-organisation of the party instead of winning by-polls though the PPP had secured two seats from Punjab during electoral contests. He claimed that the party would emerge as a force to be reckoned with in the 2018 vote.

Published in Dawn, February 19th, 2018