Secular Café: Pakistan in disarray

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Pakistan in disarray Jun 19th 2012, 21:50 http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012...i-disqualified Quote: Pakistan's top judge disqualified the country's prime minister from office on Tuesday, in a move likened to a "judicial dictatorship" by some commentators outraged that the head of government should be deposed by anything other than parliament. Capping months of legal trench warfare between the government led by the Pakistan People's party (PPP) and the judiciary, Yousuf Raza Gilani was stripped of his office by a short statement read out in a packed courtroom by the chief justice. Iftikhar Chaudhry, the top judge, said Gilani had effectively not been prime minister since April 26 when he had been found guilty of contempt for refusing to comply with a supreme court order to reopen dormant fraud investigations against President Asif Ali Zardari... ...The legal drama adds to political uncertainty at a time when the government can ill afford to be distracted from a dizzying array of crises, including widespread unrest over electricity shortages and Pakistan's deeply distrustful relationship with the US. "The supreme court has edged one step closer to a judicial dictatorship of sorts," said Cyril Almeida, a journalist. "The constitution is very clear about how the disqualification process is supposed to work and the court has quite extraordinarily brushed all of that aside and is making up new rules of the game as it goes along."... ..."This is a very difficult situation because even the constitutional experts and big lawyers cannot agree on whether this is legal," the senior politician said. "But the supreme court is an organ of state and whether what they say is right or wrong, we must accept it."... ...Chaudhry's willingness to take up cases against some of Pakistan's most powerful people has earned him legions of fans. But his status as a legal hero has been undermined recently by allegations from a billionaire real estate tycoon called Malik Riaz who claims the chief justice's son had demanded millions of dollars in bribes to influence supreme court cases. However, the ongoing controversy surrounding Chaudhry's family is likely to be wiped out by his decision to oust the prime minister.

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