Pakistan's government was plunged into a new crisiS after its prime minister was convicted of contempt over his refusal to reopen corruption cases against President Asif Ali Zardari.
Pakistan's government was plunged into a new crisis yesterday (Thursday) after its prime minister was convicted of contempt over his refusal to reopen corruption cases against President Asif Ali Zardari.
Yusuf Raza Gilani faces being disqualified from office after he was sentenced to a symbolic 30 seconds detention by the supreme court.
He was found guilty of resisting the court's order to ask Switzerland to reopen money laundering charges against Zardari, the president and leader of the ruling Pakistan People's Party (PPP).
Nawaz Sharif, an opposition leader, led calls for the government to step down. He said his Pakistan Muslim League would not recognise Gilani as prime minister.
Gilani said he would appeal against the ruling, which is a setback to his and Zardari's hopes of leading Pakistan's first elected government to a full five-year term in office. Gilani could be forced to step down but the governing coalition's two-thirds majority in the National Assembly means it should survive until February's general election.
The judges rejected imposing the maximum penalty of six months imprisonment in favour of a token 30 seconds to reflect the likelihood that Gilani will face moves to disqualify him.
Their contempt proceedings against him were launched after he resisted a court order to write to the Swiss authorities asking them to reinstate money-laundering charges against Zardari. They were dropped under President Pervez Musharraf's 2007 amnesty to allow opposition leaders, including Zardari and his wife, the late Benazir Bhutto, to return to Pakistan.
A Swiss magistrate in 2003 had convicted in absentia Zardari, Bhutto, a former prime minister, and her mother, the late Nusrat Bhutto, of laundering millions in kickbacks from firms trading with the government.
They appealed and the charges were dropped shortly after Zardari's PPP won the 2008 election. In 2009 the supreme court struck down Musharraf's amnesty as unconstitutional.
Aitzaz Ahsan, Gilani's lawyer, said the judges violated his right to a fair trial by convicting him of criminal contempt despite charging him with civil contempt.
They had also failed to address his defence - that as president, Zardari has immunity from prosecution in office. His immunity meant Gilani could not write to the Swiss authorities as the supreme court had demanded.
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