Pakistan PM faces dismissal in court battle

Lucy Osborne13 April 2012

The prime minister of Pakistan was today found in contempt of court for failing to carry out a corruption inquiry into president Asif Ali Zardari, dating back to the Nineties.

The Supreme Court issued a notice to Yousuf Raza Gilani to appear before judges as soon as Thursday. If the hearing goes ahead Mr Gilani could be prosecuted and dismissed as prime minister by the end of the week.

The government has refused to co-operate saying that President Zardari has immunity from prosecution. Its supporters say the court is pursuing a vendetta against the country's civilian leadership.

The court order is the latest development in a political crisis in Pakistan that pits the civilian government against the army, which has seized power three times.

Experts believe the rise in tensions between the government and army cannot be separated from the manoeuvring of the Supreme Court, which has sanctioned past coups.

A confrontation broke out last week over an unsigned memo delivered to Washington last year offering the US a raft of favourable security policies in exchange for its help in thwarting a supposed army coup.

Mr Gilani has called for a "show of confidence" vote in parliament today. Analysts believe early elections will be called.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in