Islamabad: Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani on Monday offered to resign shortly after the Supreme Court served him a notice for contempt of court for failing to reopen graft cases against the President, according to a media report.
Gilani told a meeting of top leaders of the Pakistan People's Party and its partners in the ruling coalition that he was ready to quit if the step strengthened the government and parliament, ARY news channel quoted its sources as saying.
PPP leader Qamar Zaman Kaira, Religious Affairs Minister Khursheed Shah and Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi of the PML-Q, a key partner in the coalition, were being considered as possible replacements for Gilani in the event of his resignation.
Meanwhile, PPP sources said that Gilani would appear before the Supreme Court on January 19 and offer unconditional apology.
They further said that in case of any eventuality such as the court asking the prime minister to quit or ordering his arrest, the party had kept three names under consideration.
Gilani convened the meeting of the PPP and its allies hours ahead of a crucial session of parliament that would vote on a resolution to shore up the civilian government. President Asif Ali Zardari too joined the meeting.
Other sources said that the PPP's top leadership had discussed the premier's resignation as a possible measure to ease the government's standoff with the judiciary and the military.
The judiciary has been pressuring the government to reopen cases of alleged money laundering against Zardari since December 2009, when it struck down a graft amnesty issued by former military ruler Pervez Musharraf.
The apex court has also accepted the military's request for ordering a probe into the alleged memo that had sought US help to stave off a possible coup in Pakistan after the killing of Osama bin Laden in May 2011.
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