The written reply of Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani in contempt case was submitted to the Supreme Court on Monday in which he has once again declined to write letter to the Swiss authorities to re-open graft cases against President Asif Ali Zardari.
The PM Gilani in his rejoinder submitted to Supreme Court (SC) in contempt case against him, asserted that the President of the State cannot be thrown before any foreign magistrate.
The 24-page rejoinder was submitted by an assistant to Barrister Aitzaz Ahsan, counsel for the prime minister.
The prime minister in his written reply prayed to the court to refer the issue of writing letter to Swiss authorities to the parliament.
It asked the court to show patience and let the people of Pakistan decide the matter. Gilani told the court that how could President of Pakistan be sent before a magistrate in a foreign country. It said that the court should use its option number six of January 10 verdict and refer the issue to the parliament.
On the last date of hearing, a seven-member bench, headed by Justice Nasirul Mulk, had told Aitzaz that he could submit a written reply on behalf of his client or apprise the Registrar Office of this court if the accused contemner wanted to appear in person. The bench made it clear that in any case, the hearing would be resumed on March 21.
During the previous proceedings, Nargis Sethi, Secretary, Cabinet Division and the Ministry of Defence, had appeared and recorded the statement.
Attorney General Maulvi Anwarul Haq also questioned Nargis. The PM was indicted for contempt of court after his failure to address a letter to the Swiss authorities requesting them to re-open the shelved graft cases against his party head and President Asif Ali Zardari.
The court had issued a number of repeated directions to the federation to implement its order on the annulled NRO, especially para 178 of the detailed judgment, dealing with the Swiss cases.
During one of his recent addresses, PM Gilani had clearly indicated his intentions when he stated that by writing a letter he could be charged with high treason under the Constitution, but he would prefer to go to jail for contempt which was only six months.