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The decision of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) to accept the Supreme Court judgment on Yousuf Raza Gilani's disqualification has come as a great surprise for many who were expecting a rebellion from the PPP. Analysts are trying to find out the reason behind PPP's sudden change of mind, which, until recently, seemed adamant to confront the Supreme Court, reports The Nation. Gilani's repeated statements that only the National Assembly Speaker had the powers to disqualify a prime minister were also indicative of PPP's defiant mood towards the judiciary. According to the paper, a proposal to create a 'Federal Constitutional Court' to hear constitutional matters was also under consideration of the PPP. This seemed to be an effort to reduce the status of the Supreme Court to that of an appellate court only to keep it away from the constitutional matters involving the president and the prime minister. This led many to believe that government could go to any extent to confront the judiciary on the issue of PM's disqualification. According to some analysts, the PPP, by accepting the judgment, has tried to beat a retreat to keep hold of the reins of power that was likely to be threatened by a possible public backlash, spearheaded by a new lawyers' movement which would have been launched had the PPP chosen to defy the court orders. Sources in the PPP, however, said that the government chose to accept the verdict, though with strong reservations, to save the democratic system. They further disclosed that government saw a greater likelihood of intervention by the undemocratic forces which could exploit the confrontation between the judiciary and the government and present it as an excuse before the nation to de-rail the system. "It was under these fears that government opted to bring a new prime minister to ensure continuation of the democratic process," they said.

What made PPP accept SC verdict on Gilani