Treason charge plea filed against Gilani

A constitutional petition has been filed in a Pakistani court seeking the disqualification of Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani for allegedly committing "high treason" by defying orders of the Supreme Court and attempting to subvert the Constitution.

A man named Allah Baksh Gondal filed the petition in the public interest in Lahore High Court  on Tuesday through lawyer A K Dogar, who is also counsel for Jamaat-ud-Dawah chief Hafiz Mohammad Saeed.

Gondal contended that Gilani, by deliberately defying the Supreme Court's orders and through his repeated attempts to subvert the Constitution, had forfeited the "sacred trust" and ceased to hold his office by automatic operation of the provisions of Articles 5, 6 and 92(2) of the Constitution.

The federal government, Gondal said, had started a confrontation with the apex court after it struck down the National Reconciliation Ordinance, a controversial graft amnesty, in December 2009.

He contended that the government had not complied with directions repeatedly given by the apex court to write to Swiss authorities about reopening corruption cases against President Asif Ali Zardari.

He said the Pakistan People's Party's leaders called for a strike in Sindh and Zardari's aide Zulfiqar Mirza publicly attacked apex court judges.

The PPP also called a general strike and a protest day across Sindh against the apex court's judgment removing Justice Deedar Hussain Shah from the office of chairman of the National Accountability Bureau.