Pak SC issues contempt notice to PM Gilani

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan's top court on Monday found Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani in contempt for not complying with orders related to re-opening corruption cases and summoned him to appear in person this week.

The move escalates the pressure on Pakistan's weakened civilian government, which faces separate court procedures that could unseat its leadership and force early elections at a time of soaring tensions with the powerful army.

"The Supreme Court has issued a contempt of court notice to the prime minister for not complying with its orders," Judge Nasir-ul-Mulk told the court which met to debate how to proceed on graft charges against the president.

"He has been directed to appear personally on January 19," the judge added.

The Supreme Court wants the government to write to Swiss authorities demanding that they re-open old corruption cases against President Asif Ali Zardari, which the government has so far refused to do so.

Zardari and the government led by his Pakistan People's Party (PPP) say he has immunity from prosecution as long as he remains in office.

The president is also under pressure from an investigation into who was behind efforts to solicit American help to prevent a coup apparently feared in the aftermath of Osama bin Laden's death and to clip the power of the army.

Zardari's close aide, Husain Haqqani, was forced to resign as ambassador to Washington over a secret memo written last May and the Supreme Court ordered an inquiry on December 30 following a demand from the country's chief spymaster.

Zardari returned to Pakistan from Dubai trip

ISLAMABAD: President Asif Ali Zardari has returned to Pakistan from a trip to Dubai, his spokesman said on Friday, as speculation swirled over whether he would survive heightened tension between his civilian government and the country's powerful military.

"The president returned to Islamabad in the wee hours of Friday morning," the spokesman, Farhatullah Babar, told Reuters.

A disputed memo allegedly from Zardari's government seeking US help in reining in the military has soured relations to their lowest point since a coup in 1999.

Military sources say that while they would like Zardari to go, it should be through constitutional means, not another of the coups that have marked half of Pakistan's almost 65 years of independence.

Zardari leaves for Dubai: Reported

ISLAMABAD: Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari left for Dubai on a scheduled one-day trip on Thursday, local television stations reported, amid growing tension over a memo seeking US help in preventing a coup by Pakistan's powerful military.

The unpopular president's trip comes during the worst tensions between Pakistan's civilian government and the military since a coup in 1999.

The army erupted in fury Wednesday over criticism from Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani concerning a commission probing the "Memogate" scandal -- the bizarre and highly controversial case of an unsigned memo sent to the US military to seek its help in weakening Pakistan's military.

The memo has pitted the army against President Asif Ali Zardari's weak civilian administration, and the Supreme Court is now tasked with deciding if the government endorsed the note, and if so, if it can remain in power.

Pakistan army commanders meet rift between army and Government

Pakistan's army chief, General Ashfaq Kayani. His affadavit was described by the prime minister as unconsitutional and illegal.

Military spokesman Maj. Muhammad Ali Diyal declined to say what the talks at army headquarters were about, but the meeting is likely to fuel speculation about the army's next move in the country's political and legal crisis.


The confrontation between Pakistan's civilian government and its army has turned into a bitter open clash, with the military saying that remarks made by the prime minister had "potentially grievous consequences for the country".

The military and the government are at loggerheads over a scandal dubbed "memogate", in which the former ambassador to Washington is accused of making a "treacherous" written offer to the US to rein in Pakistan's military, in return for American support for the civilian government. The case, aimed squarely against President Asif Ali Zardari, is before the supreme court. It has appointed a judicial commission which began hearings this week.

The prime minister, Yousaf Raza Gilani, said this week that affidavits to the court by the army chief and the head of the military's spy agency were "unconstitutional and illegal".

The military responded on Wednesday with a highly unusual statement in which it said that "no allegation more serious" could be levelled against the army chief, General Ashfaq Kayani, and the director general of Inter-Services Intelligence, Lieutenant-General Ahmed Shuja Pasha.

"This has very serious ramifications with potentially grievous consequences for the country," the military said.

It is thought that the military is trying to remove Zardari and that his determination to hang on could end in another coup. There is speculation that, to pre-empt the move, the government could try to sack the army chief.

In their written testimonies to the court, Kayani and Pasha pressed the judges to investigate the allegations against the former US envoy, Husain Haqqani. The government has asked the court to drop the case and leave a parliamentary committee to investigate. The government was furious that the military's affidavits had not been cleared by it first, though technically they were filed through the government's attorney general.

In his affidavit, Pasha said that he had seen "enough corroborative material" to prove the allegations against the former Washington ambassador, who was forced to resign over the issue.

The military insisted in its statement that it had followed the book in responding to the court proceedings.

The government on Wednesday removed the retired general who was the top bureaucratic in the defence ministry and replaced him with a Pakistan Peoples Party loyalist.

The army has reportedly called a meeting of senior commanders for Thursday. The army has staged four coups in the past, with democracy restored in 2008 after the latest period of military rule.

Gilani and Kayani Row: Imran Khan calls for early polls

New Delhi: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf chief Imran Khan lashed out at the Pakistan government led by President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, demanding their resignation. He said that early elections were the only way out of the country's current crisis, but also added that he won't support a military coup.

"I have been hearing 'go Zardari go' slogans. If you are serious, then resign from the Assembly and there will be an automatic situation for elections," Khan said on Thursday.

Demanding fresh elections following the friction between the government and the military, Khan said that Pakistani don't want dictatorship.Imran Khan calls for early polls,

"We don't back a military takeover. We are for free and fair elections. People do not want dictatorship, they want a democratic system," he said.

He said that the present Pakistan government has affected democracy in the worst possible fashion and claimed that the system will not be affected if Zardari and Gilani resign.

He also alleged that PML-N President Nawaz Sharif helped the ruling PPP and that his demand for Gilani's resignation was a drama. "Nawaz Sharif has actually helped the PPP. They had a compromise, it's all a drama," Khan said.

This came a day after Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani sacked the Defence Secretary Lt Gen(retd) Naeem Khalid Lodhi, considered to be close to the military, raising fears of a coup.

Imran Khan claimed that Gilani could have sacked the Defence Secretary on the orders of Zardari. "The Prime Minister is a puppet of President Zardari. He cannot be doing this alone," Khan said.

This has come at a time when Gilani and his government are already on a collision course with the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court called Gilani 'dishonest and dishonourable' on Wednesday.

The Gilani government has also been facing public anger over prices, shortages and corruption.

Pak crisis: Gilani-Kayani spat turns unstable In Pakistan

Islambad: Pakistan's political and military establishments were set for a showdown as Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani sacked the defence secretary Wednesday after coming under attack from the military.

Yousaf Raza Gilani also sacked the defence secretary, considered close to the military, in an apparent tit-for-tat move that worsened ties between the wobbly civilian government of Asif Ali Zardari and the powerful military that has ruled Pakistan for more than half of its existence.

Tensions have risen since a memo seeking US help to prevent a military coup in May and rein in the country's powerful khaki establishment came to light in November. Pak-American businessman Mansoor Ijaz had claimed to have delivered the memo to the Americans that former envoy to US Husain Haqqani had allegedly authored at Zardari's behest. Zardari can face impeachment if his links to the memo are established.