Pakistan's Federal Cabinet decided Thursday that the conviction of Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani by the Supreme Court was of a political nature and that there was no justification for him to resign on moral grounds. The apex court Thursday found Gilani guilty of contempt of court for refusing to reopen corruption cases against the president, but gave him only a symbolic sentence of a few minutes detention in the courtroom. Opposition parties demanded the prime minister's resignation. Nawaz Sharif, the leader of the main Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) party who has twice served as prime minister, said Gilani should quit and call fresh elections. “Prime Minister should immediately resign. He should step down without causing further crisis,” Sharif said live on the private television station Geo. Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Imran Khan wrote on the microblogging website Twitter: “After SC judgement PM has lost whatever shred of legal & moral authority he had. He must resign immed & ECP must notify his 5 year disqual.” Jamaat-e-Islami President Syed Munawer Hassan while speaking to Geo News said that Gilani should have resigned following his conviction in the contempt of court case. The prime minister's lawyer said that he will appeal against his conviction. “I will file the appeal after receiving the detailed order of the court,” Aitzaz Ahsan, who fought Gilani's case for three months, told a news conference. Ahsan said that the Supreme Court charged Gilani for scandalizing the court which was not in the charges framed. __
