Round II: Govt softens stand as Gilani heads for top court

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan PM Yousaf Raza Gilani would on Thursday appear before the supreme court in connection with contempt proceedings initiated against him for failing to write to Swiss authorities for reopening of a graft case against president Asif Ali Zardari.
There is no immediate threat to Gilani, as the contempt of court case is expected to be drawn out. But he could be disqualified from holding office and have to step down if he is convicted.
The government appeared to have softened its stand ahead of Gilani’s appearance. His lawyer, Aitzaz Ahsan, said there would be no harm in asking Swiss authorities to reopen the case as Zardari enjoys immunity from prosecution in Pakistan and abroad as long as he remains in office.
Ahsan’s comments are seen as a suggestion that the government was seeking a way out of a legal crisis that could cost Gilani his job.
Ahsan said he was confident that Gilani would not be convicted in the contempt case. “I do not think he has committed contempt of court by not writing the letter. I will try to convince the court about this,” Ahsan said.
Legal experts say the Swiss case would be rendered dead if it is not revived by April. “That is why the court is pressing the government,” said lawyer Abid Hasan Minto . Sources said the government’s softened stand could be part of a plan to buy time till Senate elections in March that would give the ruling Pakistan People’s Party a majority in the upper house and an important say in legislation for the next six years.
Analysts said Gilani would appear before the court, commit to implement its orders and have himself discharged of the contempt notice. The government has vowed to complete its term that ends in 2013. But it may call earlier elections after the Senate elections.
The PM last week blinked in a standoff with the army over a memo that sought the US help to rein in the military and prevent a coup in May.
A probe into the memo threatens to implicate Zardari and could lead to his impeachment . The SC had called Gilani “dishonest’’ and warned him of disqualification if he did not open the cases against Zardari last week. It has repeatedly asked the government to do so since it threw out the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) that extended immunity to politicians and bureaucrats from prosecution in graft cases, as illegal in 2009.
Separately, an Islamabad court rejected a petition seeking a treason case against Pakistani-American businessman Mansoor Ijaz in connection with the memo scandal. The scandal came to light after Ijaz claimed that he had delivered the memo allegedly authored by former Pakistan envoy to US Husain Haqqani at Zardari’s behest.