E-mail updates
Follow on Twitter
Subscribe to RSS
Pakistan's Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani (center) waves to supporters upon arrival at the Supreme Court for a hearing in a contempt-of-court of notice, in Islamabad, Pakistan, Jan. 19.
ISLAMABAD - Pakistan's Supreme Court decided Thursday to charge the country's prime minister, Yusuf Raza Gilani, with contempt for his failure to reopen an old corruption case against the president, a move that could oust the premier from office and land him in prison if he is convicted.
That could create political turmoil within Pakistan, the last thing the government needs as it struggles to deal with an ailing economy, a violent Islamist insurgency and troubled relations with its most important ally, the United States.
The U.S. is likely watching the case closely since it wants Pakistan to focus on pushing the Taliban to make peace with the Afghan government so that Washington can withdraw its troops without a civil war breaking out in the country.
The Supreme Court ordered the government two years ago to write to Swiss authorities requesting they reopen the graft case against President Asif Ali Zardari, which dates to the late 1990s. But the government refused, claiming the president enjoys immunity from prosecution while in office.
Pakistan, NATO officials downplay Taliban report
"After the preliminary hearing, we are satisfied ... there is enough (of a) case" to proceed further, the seven-member bench ordered Thursday. "The case is adjourned until Feb. 13 for the framing of charges. The prime minister will be present in person."
Gilani, speaking in Davos, Switzerland last week, had suggested a three-month period of high political tension in the country, including a standoff with the military over a mysterious memo, had eased considerably.
But Thursday's order and Gilani's anticipated appeal are expected to ensure a continued achingly slow-motion duel between the Supreme Court and the government, which has squared off with the judiciary almost since Zardari took office in 2008.
BBC: Secret report reveals Pakistan-Taliban ties
"He has the constitutional, legal right to appeal," his lawyer Aitzaz Ahsan said. "It would be my recommendation to my client to appeal. He will then decide."
If convicted, Gilani could face jail and lose his office.
The legal tussle stems from thousands of old corruption cases thrown out in 2007 by a controversial amnesty law passed under former military president Pervez Musharraf.
Zardari is its most prominent beneficiary and the main target of the court, which voided the law in 2009 and ordered the re-opening of cases accusing the president of money laundering using Swiss bank accounts. He remains the chairman of the Pakistan People's Party, which leads the coalition government.
Miscommunication and bad maps contributed to the deaths of 24 Pakistani troops in a NATO airstrike last month, a military investigation concluded Thursday. NBC's Jim Miklaszewski reports.
Zardari's is the longest-running civilian administration in Pakistan's coup-marred history, but has become deeply unpopular, seen as both corrupt and incompetent.
Political instability and brinkmanship has consumed the nuclear-armed country in recent years, preventing it from addressing crushing poverty and other economic ills, or containing a rampaging insurgency that is endangering the U.S.-led war effort in Afghanistan.
Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
More from msnbc.com and NBC News:
Leave a Comment:
It's easy to cast stones by what you read from the media. If this guy is found guilty of wrong doing, he should be punished by the Pakistanies. Everyone else should stay out of it. PERIOD!
@ cubt; Whether or not the government of Pakistan is corrupted is our business, ummm can you say nuclear weapons? What you call "casting stones" I would call letting a government know the world is watching. They are all corrupt over there at the moment cubt, most think that alot of bombings in the city are motivated by religion, this is a guise as they are more politically motivated, even when executed by the Pakistan Taliban, do your homework on this and you will see what I mean.
Oh,and now you are telling everybody what they should do, on a public forum. hmmm
Funny, im sure most of the common folk in Pakistan are all claiming that we are all corrupt over here.
Nothing like painting your world view with the finesse of a steam roller.
@ soviet; No sir, they are chanting "death to America", just recently as a matter of fact.
We should charge Pakistan with contempt. Sentence. No more aid.
Why are there so many Americans who think that the world is a safe place? For us or anybody else. The truth is that the current state of affairs is quite possibly the most insecure the world has been since the outbreak of WW II. Everyday we learn more and more about just how many countries have not just corrupt governments but almost totally ineffective governments. Add to that the number of insurgent groups, revolutionaries, and Islamic Jihadists all trying to bring these various dictatorships down and the West could easily find itself virtually surrounded by unfriendly and in some cases downright dangerous states. Some with nuclear power, which in there case is like having a 5 year old with a loaded 45 in his hands wandering around the neighborhood plaything cowboys and Indians.
Look at a world map and put a marker on every country that you are aware of that is undergoing severe internal problems due to any of the above and see just how comfortable you'd be traveling to any of them. From Mexico and much of South America you'd best be careful outside of the largest cities. In Africa it is perhaps even worse, and through the Near and Middle East you're likely to get shot or mugged if you go to the wrong area in almost any city. Southeast Asia has a growing problem with Jihadists and although places like Hong Kong and Singapore are still relatively safe there are growing areas of concern that we should all be aware of.
The idea that just because the Soviet Union no longer exists as it was in the 60's and 70's is no reason to feel as if the world is suddenly one big happy playground for humanity becuase the truth is that it isn't even close to being so. I can only hope and pray that today's isolationists don't help pave the way for a series of vivious wars that must be fought that will cost our next generation of young to have to face what many of our parents faced in the 40's.
You said "vivious". That's cool!
So your saying you know how Americans feel? Take a look around, Americans are at war on terror, drugs, comunism, nuclear weapons manufacturing, and countries that want to destroy our allies. We are the number one targeted nation for terror attacks, kidnappings, exploitations and critisism in the world so I have to say, your above post makes no sense. Either your not a good mind reader or your soucre of info sucks.
On the other hand, how about you try and put a marker on the map of any country we cannot hit with a Nuclear Missile. You will find there is not one place on this world the US cannot wipe off within 5 minutes. All those countries that can strike us are our Allies. when your the most powerful, your the most targeted, nothing new about that, we have live this way for a long time and we will continue living that way. If we chose to travel then we accept the dangers. Simple. When you have had nuclear bombs for more than 70 years and your enemies are trying to just now invent one its a bit of a joke. No one is afraid of them and that just makes then more angry. The best they can do is kill a few americans here and there. If we tried to kill everyone we could you wouldn't see a few dozen dying a year, you would see millions dying a day. We tolerate them in hopes they have a better life. We sanction them to keep their neighbors safe and the economy stable. We are NOT afraid of them as enemies, were just afraid of the inconvenience it causes our daily lives. I hate paying more for gas to fill my boat, jetskiis, and to travel to the mountains skiing.....I feel sad for them not having any of the things we have, but its all thier own faults. Thats what happends when all you do is fight.
:)
That was... quite insightful, Robert.
Well done.
Although I would hope that most American's don't merely "tolerate" everyone else in the world. Some of them are nice folks!
@robert;
Nuclear weapons kill more than a few people "here and there" Robert. Your enemies trying to arm themselves atomically is no joke sir, how do you think it is?
Yeh right, as long as it is not you and yours getting killed right Robert? Then would it mean a little more,or would it still be a joke?
insightful?! feh!
Oh boy, they gonna be hanging him in a year or two.
"The last thing the country needs is the Prime Minister being charged"? Are you kidding me? So the country needs corrupt Presidents instead?
LOL. The court has the power and right to do its job. It should do nothing less. If it ends up taking down a president then it did one of the most important jobs ever. Ultimate justice for the people and country. This is there right let them do it. we just need this type of thing here at home more often.
yikes
I agree, we should stay out of Pakistn's procedures, however, the US has a stake in the policical/religious outcome. The Taliban are currently using Pakistan as a base of military operation. Pakistan has been a home base for Islamic militancy for centuries. It is a culture that is hard to break. The support for militancy is at the core of popular thinking and madrassah education. The Taliban are concealed by the local populations and filter accross the border into Afghanistan to make their terror attacks, then cross back into Pakistan as a shelter to avoid retaliation.
Even if there are elements of government in Pakistan that oppose the Taliban, it is the local support that cannot be broken.
The Taliban are accessories to 911 and a threat to world peace. Pakistan is the most proximate to their operations. It is my opinion that Pakistan has the greater interest in Afghanistan politics, not America. Pakistan was one of the only countries to recognize the Taliban as a government, now it is thier duty alone to prevent them from coming back into power.
If America leaves, and civil war breaks out in Afghanistan, then it is the mortal duty for Pakistan to intervene against the Taliban, or they shall be tagged as traitors to their own words, and the labels of duplicity will be cast in stone.
Guilty party is none other than Musharraf, ex military dictator who under NRO (national reconciliation order) allowed these corrupt politicians to return.Zardari was involved in money laundering, cases in Swiss court were withdrawn & he became the president. Gilani is Zardari's cabin boy,he is just a mouthpiece of Zardari regime.
Pakistan operates as smoothly as 8 monkeys trying to hump a football. What a mess of a country.
WELL! I guess somebody thinks we did the right thing with OSAMA!