London: Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has said “come what may” he will protect the constitution, a report says.
“Come what may I will protect the constitution of Pakistan. I will go to the last limit and exhaust all my options and exercise my right to appeal,” Gilani Saturday told a gathering of leaders and workers of Pakistan Peoples Party in London.
He said his case was related to the interpretation of the constitution of the country and his only crime was protecting the constitution, reported Associated Press of Pakistan. A day earlier, Gilani had reiterated that there is no corruption case against him.
He said that if all institutions work within the constitution, then there will be no conflict and he has been working within the parameters of the constitution.
On April 26, Gilani was convicted for contempt of court by the Supreme Court that gave him a symbolic sentence till rising of the court for refusing to write to the Swiss authorities to reopen a corruption case against President Asif Ali Zardari.
Gilani was indicted for contempt of court Feb 13.
Accused of graft, Zardari was granted amnesty under the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) in 2007 by then president Pervez Musharraf to facilitate his return home and, primarily that of his wife, former prime minister Benazir Bhutto.
The NRO that granted immunity to politicians and bureaucrats in corruption cases was struck down in 2009 by the Supreme Court as void.
Gilani also asserted that Ayman al-Zawahiri was not in Pakistan, challenging US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s remark that the Al Qaeda chief was there.
Zawahiri, an Egyptian cleric, became the new Al Qaeda chief after the killing of Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad town May 2 last year.
“Why should I think he (Zawahiri) is in Pakistan?” he asked the Daily Telegraph.”You have claimed that somebody has said that he is in Pakistan: if there is any information, please share with us,” he was quoted as saying.
“We don’t think so,” said Gilani in London when he was asked for his own view on whether the Al Qaeda chief was in Pakistan.
On May 7, during her three-day trip to India, Hillary Clinton had categorically said that Zawahiri was in Pakistan.
Clinton had said in Kolkata: “We want to disable Al Qaeda. We believe Zawahiri is in Pakistan.” “You have to go over those who are trying to kill you. You have to be focused on that.”
Besides, Gilani has said there is insufficient evidence to arrest Mumbai terror attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed, a media report said.
“If you arrest him, that means he will be released by the courts. For the courts you need more evidence,” telegraph.co.uk quoted Gilani as saying. “You know the judiciary is completely independent in Pakistan.”
Hafiz Saeed, founder of the Lashkar-e-Taiba militant group, is accused of masterminding the 2008 Mumbai terror attack in which 166 people, including foreigners, were killed by 10 terrorists from Pakistan.
The US last month announced an award of up to $10 million for information leading to arrest and conviction of Saeed and $2 million for Hafiz Adbul Rahman Makki, under the Rewards for Justice programme, for information on the two terrorists.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, during her three-day trip to India earlier this month, said she had authorised the award for Hafiz Saeed who was responsible for the attack in Mumbai.
“It may take longer than we like but we will stand with you and trying to make that happen,” she said May 7 in Kolkata. (IANS)