LAHORE - In response to the remarks made by the Chief Justice of Pakistan on Saturday that the Constitution was supreme over all other institutions, former prime minister and PPP Senior Vice-chairman Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani on Sunday said that no doubt the Constitution was supreme but it was the Parliament that had created it.
He was talking to the media at Lahore Cantonment Railway Station where he boarded a train (Allama Iqbal Express) to reach Khanewal on his way to Multan. At Khanewal, he was received warmly by the party activists, office-bearers as well as people of his constituency.
Though Mr Gilani apparently agreed with the CJ about supremacy of the Constitution, but at the same he also tried to establish the point that the Parliament was the supreme body since it was the creator of the Constitution.
“The Constitution was also there when the judges were detained at their homes,” he said while indirectly trying to convey to the CJ that it was the Parliament which ultimately restored the deposed judges when the Constitution was of no help to them.
The ex-PM maintained that PPP was the party which restored the Constitution in its actual shape and spirit. “We follow the Parliament on every issue including that of a dual citizenship,” Gilani said, adding his government ensured stability of the parliament.
The former prime minister disagreed with the perception that Pakistan was a failed state. “Pakistan is not a failed state; one prime minister left and another one replaced him without creation of any fuss,” he remarked. 
On contempt of court law, he said that as a matter of fact no such law existed at the moment, though attempts were made during the tenures of General Musharraf and Mian Nawaz Sharif to enact the same. Gilani said that contempt law could be debated and a new one framed after evolving consensus among majority of the parliamentarians.
To a question, the ex-premier said that he was punished for supporting the cause of a Seraiki province. Answering another question, Gilani said he never intended to become a political martyr.
Talking about the coming elections, he said their results would be no different from those held in 2008 given the polarisation among the electorate. He also predicted victory of his party in the upcoming polls, saying that PPP had its roots in all the federating units.
On DPC’s long march, he said that most of the council members had the history of being ‘chronic jihadis’. He, however, said that weather was supportive of the marchers and government would also provide water and other facilities to them as they reach the federal capital.
Earlier, before his departure for Khanewal from here, there were reports that Mr Gilani was travelling without a ticket. It gave rise to further speculations when the former premier avoided a question about his Railway ticket.
However, it was learnt later on that his supporters had paid for the two Railways saloons they had got booked for their leader. The former prime minister was also accompanied by IG Railways, Syed Ibn-e-Hasan, DC Railways Javed Noor and some security personnel.