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Pak PM refuses to quit
[Bangla Daily Star] Pakistain's prime minister refused to step down... Hell no! The money's too good!... yesterday as he made a defiant appearance in parliament a day after his conviction over a corruption investigation into the president.
... Pakistain's erstwhile current prime minister, whose occasional feats of mental gymnastics can be awe-inspiring ... faced opposition calls to quit after the Supreme Court convicted him of contempt for refusing to write to Swiss authorities asking them to reopen a multi-million-dollar graft probe into President  Asif Ali President Ten PercentZardari ... sticky-fingered husband of the late Benazir Bhutto ... His lawyer has said he will appeal against the verdict, which made him the first sitting premier in Pakistain's history to be convicted, and Gilani said only parliament had the authority to remove him from office. "There is no law to remove an elected prime minister, parliament is the supreme authority and only this parliament has the authority to remove me," he said.  Nawaz Sharif... served two non-consecutive terms as prime minister, heads the Pakistain Moslem League (Nawaz). Noted for his spectacular corruption, the 1998 Pak nuclear test, border war with India, and for being tossed by General Musharraf... , the head of the main opposition Pakistain Mohammedan League (Nawaz) said Thursday that Gilani should quit to avoid pushing the country into "further crisis". "I am an elected prime minister, representing 180 million people. How can any body order an elected prime minister to go home?" Gilani said. "Only the speaker of the house, who is the custodian of this house, has the authority to decide." The conviction opened the way for proceedings to remove him as a politician, but addressing the speaker, Gilani said: "I will step down only if you de-notify me. I will accept if this parliament disqualify me." Though it looks unlikely to bring down the coalition government led by Gilani's Pakistain People's Party (PPP), Thursday's ruling is likely to cause fresh uncertainty in a country already struggling with Islamist militancy and economic woes. Legal experts say the process to remove Gilani from office, which involves the speaker referring the matter to the Election Commission, could drag on for months. Gilani urged the speaker, who is a PPP member, to apply her "own mind" and "own legal assessment" on the case and said his conscience was clear over the Swiss letter. The Zardari allegations date back to the 1990s when he and his late wife, former prime minister Benazir Bhutto ... 11th Prime Minister of Pakistain in two non-consecutive terms from 1988 until 1990 and 1993 until 1996. She was the daughter of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, founder of the Pakistain People's Party, who was murdered at the instigation of General Ayub Khan. She was murdered in her turn by person or persons unknown while campaigning in late 2007. Suspects include, to note just a few, Baitullah Mehsud, General Pervez Musharraf, the ISI, al-Qaeda in Pakistain, and her husband, Asif Ali Zardari, who shows remarkably little curiosity about who done her in... , are accused of using Swiss bank accounts to launder about $12 million in bribes from companies seeking customs inspection contracts. Gilani has always insisted Zardari has full immunity as head of state and last month said that writing to the Swiss would be a violation of the constitution. The case has been highly politically charged, with members of the government accusing judges of over-stepping their reach and of trying to bring down the prime minister and president, a year before the administration would become the first in Pakistain to complete an elected term. Posted by: Fred 2012-04-28 |
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