In the end, Pakistans Supreme Court climbed down. In a political decision, the activist court merely convicted Prime Minister Yousuf Rana Gilani of contempt of court. Gilani had defied the court order to revive investigations into the corruption
charges against President Asif Ali Zardari. In spite of being ordered by the Supreme Court, Gilani had refused to write to the Swiss authorities for reopening investigations into his slush funds salted away in secret bank accounts. Admittedly, the Pak PM faced a Hobsons choice. Zardari was the co- chairman of the ruling party as also President of Pakistan. Starting investigations in corruption cases against him while he was still in the saddle would have made Zardaris continuance as President untenable. But not starting those investigations attracted the fury of the highest court. Admittedly, Gilani had not arranged exoneration for his party chief. It was former President Pervez Musharraf who had promulgated the National Reconciliation Ordinance granting immunity to Zardari from corruption charges. But the problem arose when the Supreme Court outlawed the Ordinance and asked Gilani to proceed against the President on various corruption charges.
Unable to enforce its order, the court began contempt proceedings against the Prime Minister early this year. It seemed that the higher judiciary and the civilian government were on a collision course.
As it is, Pakistan was in the throes of a veritable existentialist crisis what with it taking on the US on continuing Drone attacks and other issues and various jihadi and Taliban groups creating havoc within its own borders.
The last thing any peaceloving Pakistani wanted was a constitutional chaos with the judiciary taking the high road of morality and transparency in public life and the political executive closing ranks behind its beleaguered leader. It was a perfect recipe for a full- blooded confrontation. Indeed, in normal times the Rawalpindi GHQ would have relished such tensions for it to wade into as a force of stability and law and order. But the army itself was bogged down in repulsing serious challenges in the frontier areas.
Besides, it was still to recover from the serious blow to its image after the Americans killed the al Qaeda chief, Osama bin Laden, deep inside Pak territory.
So, in view of the sensitive internal situation, the Supreme Court may have been right in not prescribing too harsh a punishment against Prime Minister Gilani. The seven- judge bench merely held him guilty of contempt of court and sentenced him to prison till the rising of the court. To make the punishment even more symbolic, after pronouncing the punishment the court rose immediately so that Gilani could walk out a free man.
Now, whether the alt39alt39alt39alt39sentencealt39 prescribed by the Supreme Court can lead to the disqualification of Gilani under the Constitution remains to be seen but, on the face of it, it is highly unlikely that the apex court would endorse the harsh action. Of course, you cannot blame the Opposition parties to try and embarrass the ruling party. Already, both Nawaz Sharif and Imran Khan have sought the resignation of Gilani on the ground that his conviction had made his continuance untenable under the Constitution. One can expect normal parliamentary process to reflect the sharp divisions over the status of the prime minister but, mercifully, Pakistan seems to have been spared a grave crisis thanks to the climb- down by the apex court. Even if the court has erred on the side of political stability, it should not be taken as licence by corrupt politicians like Zardari and others to continue with their nefarious activities. Indeed, one can see a ray of hope in the judiciary- executive interplay insofar as it signals the triumph of constitutionalism in a country which has been held to ransom alternatively by an ambitious army and greedy politicians. The fact that the incumbent prime minister felt obliged to submit himself before the court, the fact that he submitted himself to und
