ISLAMABAD: Interior Minister Rehman Malik on Tuesday said the Supreme Court verdict against Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf was unexpected.

“I would say that Raja Pervez Ashraf is still prime minister and would continue to be so,” he said while speaking to media persons outside Parliament House in Islamabad.

Malik said the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) had always given respect to the judiciary and its verdicts and would do the same in future in the larger national interest.

To a question about the long march, he said Chief of Tehrik-i-Minhajul Quran (TMQ), Dr Tahirul Qadri had failed to materialise his claims to gather four million marchers in the federal capital.

The minister said there were 20,000 to 25,000 marchers who had gathered to join Qadri's sit-in.

He said the sit-in is the democratic right of every citizen but Qadri should have raised demands within limits of the constitution.

Answering a question, he said the Ministry of Interior implements the request of National Accountability Bureau (NAB) with regard to putting name of an accused in the Exit Control List (ECL).

Replying to a question about a clash between police and participants of the long march, Rehman Malik said he had ordered an inquiry and sought a report in the matter.