Pakistan Supreme Court disqualifies prime minister

[Shah-i-Kot]

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/...85I0KS20120619


Pakistan Supreme Court disqualifies prime minister







By Qasim Nauman ISLAMABAD | Tue Jun 19, 2012 11:28am EDT

(Reuters) - Pakistan's increasingly assertive Supreme Court declared Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani ineligible for office on Tuesday, plunging the country into fresh turmoil as it deals with Islamic militancy, a weak economy and a crisis in relations with the United States.
However, there seems to be no immediate threat to the stability of the government since the ruling Pakistan People's Party (PPP) has a comfortable majority in parliament.
But the move is bound to sharply raise tensions between the unpopular civilian government and Supreme Court Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry, who has made a name for himself in recent years by taking on Pakistan's most powerful figures.
In April, the Supreme Court found Gilani guilty of contempt of court for refusing to reopen corruption cases against President Asif Ali Zardari.
"Yusuf Raza Gilani stands disqualified as a member of the Majlis-e-Shoora (parliament)," said Chaudhry, in a packed courtroom. "He has also ceased to be the prime minister of Pakistan ... the office of the prime minister stands vacant."
Fawad Chaudhry, a senior Gilani aide, said only parliament could dismiss the prime minister, a view shared by analysts.
However, within hours of the Supreme Court decision, state television reported that the Election Commission of Pakistan had issued the official notification of Gilani's disqualification. The ruling can be challenged.
While the decision is a big blow to the PPP, it is unlikely to lead to the fall of the unpopular government.
The PPP and its coalition partners have the numbers in parliament to elect a new prime minister until the government's term ends early next year when a general election is due.
"I don't see this as a major constitutional breakdown unless the PPP ignores this decision," said legal expert Salman Raja.
"I think sanity will prevail and they should be able to do that (replace Gilani) fairly easily given that they just passed the budget - they clearly have a majority (in parliament)."
The PPP's central executive committee said it would set aside reservations it has on the judgment, consult with legal advisors and then formulate a strategy. The party urged its workers to exercise restraint.
"Once we have finished our consultations, parliament is the forum for this. We will see what route we have to take," senior PPP official Qamar Zaman Kaira told reporters. Zardari canceled a visit to Russia over the Supreme Court judgment, a presidential spokesman said.
Gilani is the first serving prime minister in Pakistan's history to be convicted by a court.
Thousands of corruption cases were thrown out in 2007 by an amnesty law passed under former military president Pervez Musharraf, which paved the way for a return to civilian rule.
Two years later, the Supreme Court ruled that agreement illegal and ordered the re-opening of money laundering cases against Zardari that involved Swiss bank accounts.
Gilani and his government refused to obey the court's order to write to Swiss authorities asking them to re-open money laundering cases against Zardari, arguing that Zardari had immunity as the head of state.
PUBLIC ANGER OVER GOVERNMENT FAILURES
Political upheaval often distracts Pakistan's leaders from a dizzying array of problems, from widespread poverty to a struggling economy.
In the last few days, Pakistanis furious over power cuts that can last up to 18 hours a day in some areas, have burned tires in the streets and thrown rocks at buildings.
On Tuesday, guards shot at protesters who were trying to force their way into a politician's house in the central Pakistani town of Kamalia. Two of them died of their wounds.
But the headlines in Pakistan are often grabbed by the central characters in the country's major institutions - the government, the judiciary and the powerful military.
Chaudhry's supporters see him as a survivor determined to fight injustice. Detractors say he pushes too far, creating a conflict between the judiciary and political leaders that threatens Pakistan's young democracy.
Gilani's fate could also distract the government from engaging with U.S. efforts to improve heavily damaged ties with Pakistan. Washington is trying to persuade Islamabad to re-open supply routes to NATO forces in Afghanistan that were closed last year in protest against a NATO cross-border strike that killed two dozen Pakistani soldiers.
The shooting came after ties between the United States and Pakistan had deteriorated over the unilateral U.S. special forces raid that killed Osama bin Laden on Pakistani soil last year. That operation humiliated Pakistan's military.
Islamabad is seen as critical to U.S. efforts to pacify Afghanistan after more than a decade of war against the Taliban.
But it is often described as an unreliable ally because of its alleged support for Islamist militant groups, poor governance, frequent power struggles involving the judiciary, civilian leaders and the military, and widespread corruption.
CHAUDHRY BACK IN SPOTLIGHT
The Supreme Court decision also puts Chaudhry back at the center of Pakistan's turbulent political stage.
Chaudhry became a household name in Pakistan and gained international recognition in 2007 when he stood up to then President Pervez Musharraf over his legally questionable bid to hold on to power.
Since then, he has taken on the government over allegations of corruption, and has even challenged the military, which has ruled for more than half of Pakistan's 64-year history.
Chaudhry took up cases involving kidnappings and torture of suspected Islamist militants allegedly carried out by the military and intelligence agencies. They deny the charges.
"The Supreme Court has expanded its domain once again," said analyst Hasan Askari Rizvi.
"The Supreme Court does not have the power to dismiss the prime minister, only the parliament does. It's the first time in Pakistan's history that the Supreme Court has removed a prime minister and it has created a precedent."
The move comes during a difficult time for the chief justice.
A Pakistani real estate tycoon on Tuesday accused Chaudhry of turning a blind eye to his son's alleged corrupt financial practices.
Malik Riaz, who fashions himself as a billionaire philanthropist, said he had given almost $3.6 million in bribes to Chaudhry's son Arsalan Iftikhar. He has denied all allegations.
Riaz, who has been accused of fraud, suggested that Chaudhry was aware of the bribes. The Supreme Court responded by saying Riaz could be in contempt of court.
Kamran Bokhari, vice-president of Middle Eastern and South Asian Affairs with global intelligence company Stratfor, said the Supreme Court's decision could have been prompted by the Riaz case.
"The judiciary and executive branch are locked in a chess match and moves and counter moves are taking place," he said. "It's not checkmate yet. It's definitely heated up but I don't think anyone's been checkmated yet."
(Additional reporting by Rebecca Conway, Anam Zehra, Katharine Houreld and Sheree Sardar; Writing by Michael Georgy; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)

[Shah-i-Kot]

Pakistani court dismisses PM Gilani from office

June 19, 2012 http://www.usnews.com/news/world/art...ed-from-office


By ASIF SHAHZAD, Associated Press
ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistan's top court dismissed the prime minister for contempt on Tuesday, ushering in a new round of political turmoil in a nation vital to American hopes of withdrawing from Afghanistan.
The Supreme Court ruling was a major escalation in a long-running confrontation between the judges and the government, and appeared to be a knockout blow against Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, effectively dismissing his Cabinet as well.
A spokesman for Gilani's Pakistan People's Party, Zaman Kaira, said the party had "reservations" about the verdict and urged supporters to stay calm. He said the party was meeting with coalition partners and legal experts on its next step. Hours later, the country's election commission officially announced that Gilani was no longer prime minister.
In the past, the PPP, the largest party in a fragile ruling coalition, has said it would have the numbers in parliament to elect a new premier if Gilani was ousted by the court. Some suggested that Gilani and his boss, President Asif Ali Zardari, might try to resist the order. That could spark institutional deadlock and social unrest, even raising the possibility of the army staging a coup as it has done three times in the country's past.
The political chaos comes amid a near breakdown in relations between the United States and Pakistan, whose ties to the Afghan Taliban make it important in any negotiated settlement in neighboring Afghanistan.
Washington wants Pakistan to reopen supply lines to Afghanistan that were blocked in November to protest U.S. airstrikes that killed 24 Pakistani border troops. With anti-Americanism rife, the government — now even weaker politically — will be less likely to swiftly undertake the unpopular stop of reopening the supply lines.
The Supreme Court ordered the country's election commission to formally dismiss Gilani and said he had not legally been the prime minister since April 26, when the court convicted him for contempt for refusing to open a corruption probe against Zardari dating back to the 1990s and involving the jurisdiction of courts in Switzerland.
"The office of the prime minister shall be deemed to be vacant accordingly," said Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudry, who then ordered Zardari to "ensure the continuation of the democratic process", widely seen as instructing him to begin the process of electing a new premier.
Yasin Azad, president of the Supreme Court Bar Association, said Gilani had the right to file a "review petition" against the ruling within 30 days, but it would have little chance of success.
Ahsan Iqbal, an opposition leader, praised the ruling and urged Zardari to nominate a new prime minister.
"Gilani stands disqualified," he said. "Now the president should convene the session of the parliament to elect a new prime minister."
The Zardari government has failed to make any headway in tackling any of the nuclear-armed nation's many problems, including near economic collapse and its own struggle against Islamist militants behind attacks that have left many thousands dead over the last five years.
As the ruling was read out, thousands of people were rioting in the nation's heartland of Punjab over rolling power cuts that have left many houses with electricity for just four hours a day. Police said unrest broke out in scores of towns, with officers firing tear gas against rock-throwing protesters, who torched scores of buildings, including one belonging to a lawmaker.
The ruling 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 the cases against Zardari. Gilani refused, saying the president had immunity from prosecution so long as he was in office and that doing so would violate the constitution. In January the court ordered contempt proceedings against him.
Gilani has been refusing to step down, saying he has done nothing wrong and accusing the Supreme Court's chief justice of having a vendetta against him and his party. Some independent analysts also have expressed unease at the actions of the Supreme Court, saying its initial decision to go after Zardari was politically motivated and that in a democracy the people — not judges — should be the ones to oust the prime minister in elections.
In the world of Pakistani politics, the court order against Gilani could become an advantage to his and Zardari's party in elections that have to be called before early next year. It will likely 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. Party founder Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was hanged by the court in 1979.
The verdict ruling came as the Supreme Court itself was reeling under its own corruption scandal. Last week, a wealthy property tycoon with links to the army and the government alleged that justice Chaudry's son received millions of dollars from him to influence cases involving him being heard at the court.
Some observers speculated that the move to dismiss Gilani was aimed at deflecting attention from this scandal, which has weakened Chaudry.
Rasul Bakhsh Rais, a professor at Lahore University of Management Science, said Zardari's government was unlikely to accept the court's decision.
"The political situation is not likely to be decided very peacefully I am afraid. It will be decided by demonstrations," he said.
If Gilani does not step down, the Supreme Court could call on the president or the military to enforce the decision, Rais said. "Pakistan is in a real mess."

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