Pakistan PM wins time in legal wrangle over president

Pakistani Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf

Monday won a few more weeks' breathing space in a long-running legal wrangle over the reopening of graft cases against President Asif Ali Zardari. The Supreme Court ordered Ashraf in July to comply with an order to write to authorities in Switzerland asking them to reopen multimillion dollar corruption probes investigating the president. Ashraf's predecessor, Yousuf Raza Gilani, was thrown out of office for refusing to write to the Swiss and the court has made veiled threats that the new premier could suffer the same fate. The court had given Ashraf until August 8 to indicate whether he would write to the Swiss before adjourning the case to try to find a way out of the saga, which has dragged on for two and a half years. On Monday Judge Asif Saeed Khosa adjourned the case again, to September 18, after Ashraf pledged to find a way to resolve the standoff. The government has resisted judges' demands to reopen investigations into Zardari, arguing he enjoys immunity as head of state. Earlier this month the Supreme Court struck down a new law passed by parliament that sought to exempt members of the government from contempt trials, clearing the way for legal proceedings against the premier. The showdown could force elections before February 2013 when the government would otherwise become the first in Pakistan's history to complete an elected, full five-year mandate. During a 45-minute address to the court, the prime minister said he was determined to find a way to bring an end to a chapter that has caused turmoil in Pakistani politics. "I will make all out efforts to bring an end to uncertainty that prevailed in the country," he said. "It is my firm belief that it is not in Pakistan's interest to linger on this issue. I am ready to give a positive commitment to this court that I will resolve this issue." Government lawyers last month said the court's order to write to the Swiss was "un-implementable" as it ran contrary to the constitution, which grants immunity to Zardari against trial in any court while he is president. Critics of the judiciary and members of Zardari's main ruling Pakistan People's Party accuse the court of overstepping its reach and waging a personal vendetta against the president. Experts say that if Ashraf does not satisfy the court, he risks being indicted for contempt, precipitating the second trial against a sitting prime minister in months. The allegations against Zardari date back to the 1990s, when he and his late wife, former premier Benazir Bhutto, are suspected of laundering $12 million allegedly paid in bribes by companies seeking customs inspection contracts. In 2009, the court overturned a political amnesty that froze investigations into the president and other politicians, ordering that the cases be reopened.