Ordinance to cover Gilani

A presidential ordinance giving legal cover to former prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani’s decisions as chief executive after his conviction by the Supreme Court in April was promulgated on Sunday. The ordinance, issued by President Asif Ali Zardari, says the decisions taken by Gilani between the period from April 26 to June 19 cannot be challenged in any court. The decree also gives constitutional protection to any agreements made by Gilani with other countries during the period. The Supreme Court unseated Gilani last Tuesday and said in its order that the office of prime minister would be considered to have been vacant since the date of his conviction.Gilani was convicted for defying a Supreme Court order to write a letter to Swiss authorities for reopening money laundering cases against Zardari, which were closed in 2008 on Pakistan’s request before his election as president in the same year. The National Assembly on Friday elected Raja Pervez Ashraf to run the affairs of the country till the next general elections due after the expiry of the five-year tenure of the assembly in March 2013. Ashraf was nominated for the top post by President Zardari, who is also the co-chairman of the Pakistan People’s Party and PPP allies backed the decision. He outvoted opposition candidate Sardari Mehtab Abbasi 211-89. Chairman of Pakistan Tehreek e Insaaf Imran Khan has said his party will move the Supreme Court to ask the new prime minister to implement its order to approach the Swiss authorities for reopening the graft cases against Zardari. The newly elected prime minister on Sunday visited the grave of assassinated former prime minister and PPP chairperson Benazir Bhutto at Garhi Khuda Bux in southern Sindh province. He later arrived in Karachi, the provincial capital. Talking to reporters, Ashraf said the PPP government does not want confrontation with any national institution and that it will complete its constitutional term with the help of coalition partners. He said his election proved that those who thought the democratic process would fail in the aftermath of Gilani’s exit were wrong. For the second time since his election, Ashraf said he would seek the opposition’s cooperation to strengthen parliament and democracy in the country. On Saturday he chaired a meeting in Islamabad to discuss ways to boost electricity generation to reduce the big gap between demand and supply and mitigate the extreme hardship people across the country are facing due to daily long power outages. Media reports said the cabinet of Ashraf is set to create a post of deputy prime minister for an allied party, Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q). The first meeting of the 38-member cabinet is expected in the coming days.from gulfnews.com