Pakistan’s Prime Minister issued a contempt of court notice

Pakistan’s highest court escalated its clash with the government on Monday by initiating contempt-of-court proceedings against Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani for failing to pursue corruption charges against his boss, President
Asif Ali Zardari.

The Supreme Court was clearly infuriated after the government’s lawyer said that the government had given no instructions on how to respond to the court’s demands.

Justice Nasir-ul-Mulk ordered Mr. Gilani to appear on Thursday to explain why he should not be charged with contempt, a count that could open the door to his dismissal from office.

“We are left with no option,” Justice Mulk told a courtroom packed with lawyers, journalists and politicians.

Hours later, Prime Minister Gilani promised to obey the judicial order. “I will personally appear before the courts,” he told Parliament during a late-evening debate. “They called me on the 19th, and I am going to show up. Can
there be any greater respect than this?”

Prime ministers are rarely called to court in Pakistan, and the order was a measure of the seriousness of the clash between the two institutions, as a hawkish military hovered in the background amid sporadic rumours of a coup.

Last week the military, which has done little to disguise its loathing for the president and the prime minister, warned of “potentially grievous consequences” if the government did not halt its unusually frank public criticism
of the army.  Few analysts believe that a coup is imminent, but speculation is rife that the military is using the court as a means of ousting President Zardari through constitutional means.

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Posted by Hamza Jahangir on Jan 17 2012. Filed under Pakistan. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry