PAKISTAN’S PRIME minister yesterday served a token jail sentence of a few seconds after the supreme court convicted him of the “wilful flouting” of its orders.
The latest twist in a tortuous drama is likely to create further problems for Pakistan’s unpopular government as it gears up for re-election. But it is unlikely to immediately unseat Yousaf Raza Gilani.
The long-running contempt case against him stems from the prime minister’s refusal to accept a supreme court order demanding he write a request to Swiss prosecutors to reopen a dormant money-laundering investigation into Pakistan president Asif Ali Zardari.
Although the hearings have dragged on for months, the conclusion lasted a few minutes.
Reading out his brief verdict in a courtroom packed with Gilani supporters, including several cabinet ministers, the judge, Nasir-ul-Mulk, said the prime minister’s behaviour was “substantially detrimental to the administration of justice” and “intends to bring this court and the judiciary of this country into ridicule”.
Mr Gilani was then sentenced to “imprisonment until the rising of the court today”.
Because the seven judges ignored calls by Mr Gilani’s team to make a statement and stalked out, the prime minister’s total jail term was barely half a minute. Standing at a rostrum, he smiled after hearing the judgment.
He had reportedly been prepared to go to prison from court, but the judgment lays the ground for potentially months more wrangling.
Mr Gilani’s Pakistan People’s party (PPP) hopes to see out a full five years in office.
Outside court lawyers and journalists vied to interpret what the latest development in the “Swiss letter” affair means.
Tariq Mahmood, a retired judge, said the speaker of parliament would have to decide whether Mr Gilani should lose his seat, and therefore prime ministership, for flouting an article of the constitution that states that parliamentarians can be disqualified if they defame or ridicule the judiciary.
“There’s no automatic or immediate disqualification. It’s now up to the speaker of the National Assembly to decide,” said lawyer Aitsaz Ahsan, a member of Mr Gilani’s legal team .
The judges referred to the article in their judgment. However, given that the speaker is herself a member of the PPP, she is unlikely to disqualify the prime minister. – (Guardian service, additional reporting: Bloomberg)