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Summary The Supreme Court has accepted PM's appeal for hearing against his appearance on Feb 13.
The Supreme Court has formed 8-member bench headed by the Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry to hear intra-court appeal of the Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani in contempt case.The bench comprise of, other than the chief justice, Justice Shakirullah Jan, Justice Tariq Pervez, Justice Jawwad S Khawaja, Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali, Justice Khilji Arif, Justice Saqib Nisar and Justice Amir Hani Muslim.Earlier, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani on Wednesday filed an appeal against a Supreme Court summon demanding that he appear on February 13 to face indictment for contempt.The Prime Minister took the stance in the appeal to the Supreme Court to set aside its order of February 2 as well as recall the contempt notice served on him for not implementing the court’s order on the controversial National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO).Talking to media, PMs counsel Barrister Aitzaz Ahsan said that more than 50 case references have been cited in the 200-page appeal submitted to the Supreme Court.The Supreme Court last week ordered Gilani to appear before it on Feb. 13 to be charged with contempt of court in a case that has raised political tension.Gilani first appeared before the Supreme Court on Jan. 19 to explain why he should not be charged with contempt for failing to re-open old corruption cases against President Asif Ali Zardari. If convicted, he could face jail and the loss of office.The legal tussle stems from thousands of old corruption cases thrown out in 2007 by a controversial amnesty law.The government maintains Zardari, co-chairman of the Pakistan Peoples Party, which leads the coalition government, enjoys immunity as the head of state.
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