Pakistani PM guilty but walks free from court
Source: Agencies |
April 27, 2012, Friday
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PAKISTAN'S Supreme Court convicted the prime minister of contempt yesterday but gave him only a symbolic few minutes of detention inside the court, leaving the premier in power but weakened and facing fresh calls to resign.
The ruling against Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani sharpened political uncertainty and tensions between the government and the court that have effectively crippled an administration struggling to tackle enormous economic and security challenges.
The court had the power to sentence the prime minister to prison and order his immediate dismissal from office. It chose not to, delivering instead a symbolic punishment but one that could be used as the basis to push Gilani from power in the months to come.
The parliamentary speaker and election commission must now decide whether the conviction is a sufficient reason to dismiss Gilani as a lawmaker, and hence as prime minister.
Gilani is the longest-serving prime minister in the history of Pakistan, where civilian governments have repeatedly been toppled by the country's powerful military, often with the support of the Supreme Court, which critics allege is heavily politicized. Corruption charges have routinely been used to target those in power, or seeking to return.
The prime minister arrived at the courthouse flanked by government ministers and in a shower of rose petals tossed by supporters.
The ruling said he was guilty of contempt but would serve a sentence only "until the rising of the court," or by the time the judges left the chamber. That happened about three minutes after the verdict was handed down.
Yesterday's verdict was the culmination of a process that began in a Supreme Court decision in 2009 ordering the government to ask authorities in Switzerland to reopen a long dormant corruption probe against President Asif Ali Zardari dating back to the 1990s. Gilani refused, saying the president had immunity from prosecution, and in January the court ordered contempt proceedings against him.
In the world of Pakistani politics, the conviction against Gilani could become an advantage to his and Zardari's Pakistan Peoples Party. It could portray the case against Gilani as the latest in a long line of unjust decisions by the courts and the army and use it to fire up the party's base ahead of elections.
The graft case in the Swiss court involves millions of dollars in kickbacks Zardari and his late wife, former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, allegedly received from Swiss companies when Bhutto was in power in the 1990s. They were found guilty in absentia by a Swiss court in 2003.
Zardari appealed, but Swiss prosecutors ended up dropping the case in 2008 after the Pakistani government approved an ordinance giving the president and others immunity from cases that were politically motivated.
The court has repeatedly ordered the government to send a letter to Swiss authorities asking the case be reopened.
The ruling against Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani sharpened political uncertainty and tensions between the government and the court that have effectively crippled an administration struggling to tackle enormous economic and security challenges.
The court had the power to sentence the prime minister to prison and order his immediate dismissal from office. It chose not to, delivering instead a symbolic punishment but one that could be used as the basis to push Gilani from power in the months to come.
The parliamentary speaker and election commission must now decide whether the conviction is a sufficient reason to dismiss Gilani as a lawmaker, and hence as prime minister.
Gilani is the longest-serving prime minister in the history of Pakistan, where civilian governments have repeatedly been toppled by the country's powerful military, often with the support of the Supreme Court, which critics allege is heavily politicized. Corruption charges have routinely been used to target those in power, or seeking to return.
The prime minister arrived at the courthouse flanked by government ministers and in a shower of rose petals tossed by supporters.
The ruling said he was guilty of contempt but would serve a sentence only "until the rising of the court," or by the time the judges left the chamber. That happened about three minutes after the verdict was handed down.
Yesterday's verdict was the culmination of a process that began in a Supreme Court decision in 2009 ordering the government to ask authorities in Switzerland to reopen a long dormant corruption probe against President Asif Ali Zardari dating back to the 1990s. Gilani refused, saying the president had immunity from prosecution, and in January the court ordered contempt proceedings against him.
In the world of Pakistani politics, the conviction against Gilani could become an advantage to his and Zardari's Pakistan Peoples Party. It could portray the case against Gilani as the latest in a long line of unjust decisions by the courts and the army and use it to fire up the party's base ahead of elections.
The graft case in the Swiss court involves millions of dollars in kickbacks Zardari and his late wife, former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, allegedly received from Swiss companies when Bhutto was in power in the 1990s. They were found guilty in absentia by a Swiss court in 2003.
Zardari appealed, but Swiss prosecutors ended up dropping the case in 2008 after the Pakistani government approved an ordinance giving the president and others immunity from cases that were politically motivated.
The court has repeatedly ordered the government to send a letter to Swiss authorities asking the case be reopened.
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