PM to be charged with contempt of court

ISLAMABAD (AP):

Pakistan's Supreme Court vowed yesterday to charge the prime minister with contempt for his failure to reopen an old corruption case against the president, ramping up a destabilising political crisis just as Washington seeks to rebuild a troubled anti-terror alliance with the country.

If convicted, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani could face six months in prison and the loss of his job.

Gilani told parliament yesterday that he will honour a summons to appear before the court on February 13, when he is scheduled to be charged.

The announcement was a major escalation in a case that has dogged the democratically elected government since 2009, when the Supreme Court ordered it write to Swiss authorities requesting they reopen a corruption case against President Asif Ali Zardari that dates to the late 1990s.

The government has refused, claiming the president enjoys immunity from prosecution while in office.

In early January, the judges threatened to hold Gilani in contempt if he didn't write the letter, ordering him to make a rare appearance before the court to plead his case.

Gilani struck a conciliatory tone before the judges on January 19, and his lawyer, Aitzaz Ahsan, agreed to argue the issue of the president's immunity when the hearing resumed. The government previously insisted presidential immunity was a right, and therefore didn't need to be debated in court.