Prime Minister not a peon and would prefer jail instead of writing letter to Swiss authorities

Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has said that he was a Prime Minister not a peon and would prefer jail instead of writing letter to Swiss authorities against President Asif Ali Zardari on the Supreme Court orders. Addressing a public gathering on Thursday, the prime minister said the judges consider him as peon rather than a PM. Gilani said that he was loyal to Pakistan People’s Party and would not change his loyalty. Gilani said that if he writes letter to Swiss authorities to reopen graft cases against Asif Ali Zardari it would be in violation of the Constitution and he could be awarded death sentence under article 6 while he would be sent to jail for six months if punished with contempt of court for not writing the letter. He said that the parliament should be charged with contempt for giving immunity to the president. The Prime Minister said he believed that the President enjoys immunity under the Constitution. The prime minister said that he would leave politics but would not stab Zardari in the back.Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani has said the independence of the judiciary and the supremacy of the parliament are the fruits of democracy.About NATO supply to Afghanistan he said it would be decided by the parliament.The Prime Minister said conspiracies were hatched to stop the Senate Elections through Memo Scandal and NRO but these were frustrated. He said no one would be allowed to make bargain against the national interest.As the issue for writing a letter to Swiss authorities gains momentum, Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani said on Thursday while talking to mediamen at Bahawalpur that he would rather be incarcerated for contempt of court than be handed a death penalty for violating Article 6 of the Constitution. Gilani said that he is not writing a letter to the Swiss authorities according to the rules of business and Constitution. "If I write the letter, it will be a violation of the Article 6 of the Constitution."Prime Minister Gilani was served a contempt notice in the NRO implementation case when the government did not follow the court’s orders of writing a letter to the Swiss authority to reopen graft cases against President Asif Ali Zardari.Days after raising voice for the creation of a Seraiki province, Gilani said that those who talk about formation of Bahawalpur and Seraiki province only want to cast a dispute among the people.Lashing out at the parties demanding new provinces, he said, "If they talk so much for the creation of Bahawalpur and Seraiki province, I ask, they should try moving a resolution in the Punjab Assembly. They will not let anything like this happen."He said that administrative rights were given to the Bahawalpur province in the British colonial era. "We don’t want administrative rights. We want our own provincial assembly.".Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has said writing the letter to Swiss authorities would be in violation of Article 6 of the Constitution that could result in the death penalty"If I write a letter it will be a violation of the constitution, which is treason and which carries the death sentence," Prime Minister Gilani said while addressing the fifth Convocation of Islamia University Bahawalpur Thursday ."If I don't write, I will be convicted for contempt, the punishment for which is six months' imprisonment," Gilani added.The prime minister asked students what should he do in this situation?The students answered to move towards six months imprisonment.Gilani said he would deliver students' advice to the authorities concerned.The Supreme Court last week ordered Prime Minister Gilani to ask Switzerland to reopen corruption cases by March 21. It was the first time the court asked Gilani personally to write to the Swiss. It previously addressed repeated demands to the government since revoking in 2009 an amnesty freezing legal proceedings against key politicians.that the people want a Saraiki Province and not an administrative unit.Addressing the parliamentarians and PPP workers at Mailsi & Bahawalpur on Thursday afternoon he said those who are talking about the Bahawalpur Province are striving to sabotage them efforts about the Saraiki Province.The Prime Minister said the PPP led government did not believe in the politics of revenge and there was not a single political prisoner in the country.He said due to the politics of the reconciliation the national institutions have been strengthened .Later the Prime Minister laid down the foundation stone of the Bahawalpur University College of Agriculture and the Environmental Sciences block which will be completed at a cost of four hundred and twenty million rupees.