ISLAMABAD: Minister for Information and Broadcasting Qamar Zaman Kaira on Friday stated that the NA speaker was custodian of a sovereign house which represents the will of the people and under the constitution speaker's ruling on the issue of disqualification of a Member National Assembly (MNA) cannot be challenged anywhere.

Speaking in a private television’s talk show, Kaira said that she being the custodian of “mother of all institutions” has taken the decision on reference against Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani under the constitutional provisions and she had made up her mind after taking advice from senior lawyers.

The information minister said that it was a known fact that despite being a Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) member, the speaker had always remained impartial in conducting business in the house and all the political parties including the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) had accepted the speaker bipartisan role during the last four years.

The minister said that the speaker consulted senior lawyers who advised her not to forward the reference to the election commission against the prime minister.

Responding to a question, the minister said the speaker had right to take a decision on the reference, that is why the reference was sent to her and the constitution has given her 30 days time to take a decision on any such reference. “If her role was that of a post office, why thirty days time has been given to her to make a decision,” said the minister.

Kaira said “all political forces, except for some members of the PML-N, were convinced that the prime minister was legitimate chief executive of the country and had the right to file an appeal against the court order.”

He also said that the apex court also had not disqualified the prime minister and rather a specific political party was repeatedly stating not to accept the hard facts.

“Strangely the PML-N leadership accepted the speaker's discretionary powers in reference against Makhdoom Javed Hashmi but now they are bent upon contradicting their own stance in the PM's case,” said the minister.

He said all the state institutions including the judiciary and international community accepted PM Gilani as an elected chief executive of the country but the PML-N leadership was adamant to distort this fact and question his authority.

About President Asif Ali Zardari's visit to Chicago to represent Pakistan at Nato summit, he said that “the President presented Pakistan's case on the resumption of Nato supplies at Nato summit in a very courageous manner and highlighted the nations's principled stand on various issues related to Nato in very clear terms.”

Kaira said that unfortunately at the time of his departure certain newspapers and TV channels had stated that the president will announce resumption of Nato supplies during his address at the summit which proved figment of their imagination.

The minister said that the president reiterated the stance taken by the parliament at Nato summit by saying that the guidelines given by the parliament were binding for the government.

Kaira also said that the decision that the president should visit Chicago was taken at a meeting of Defence Committee of the Cabinet (DCC) and it was endorsed by the federal cabinet.

To a question, he said that the visit of Turkish prime minister to Pakistan would prove very fruitful. About the PM Erdogan’s advice to the opposition not to try to topple the government but guide it, he said that he has given the advice keeping in mind his own experience as a prime minister.

He dispelled the impression that the Turkish PM visited Pakistan to try to bridge the differences between United States and Pakistan and on the domestic front to bring government and opposition closer.