No clean hands in clash between Pakistan’s government, court

BY JONATHAN MANTHORPE, VANCOUVER SUN

A clash between Pakistan’s government and the Supreme Court, which has threatened the country’s political stability for seven years, is heading for a compromise. But at the heart of the deal is an acknowledgment that as both central figures in the confrontation — President Asif Ali Zardari on one side and Chief Justice of the Supreme Court Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudry on the other — are tainted by corruption allegations, it is better to close the book and move on. So there is now the hope that, after years of strident activism by Chaudry’s court, a proper relationship will be restored between political and judicial authorities ahead of elections that must be held by April next year. Chaudry began challenging political authority and establishing his court as an alternative centre of power in Pakistan soon after he was appointed Chief Justice in 2005. In a move that quickly established him as a champion of the people, Chaudry confronted then-president Pervez Musharraf, the head of the army who had seized power in a 1999 coup. Chaudry ruled it unconstitutional for Musharraf to be both president and head of the army. In March 2007, Musharraf responded by removing Chaudry from the Supreme Court and placing him under house arrest. But this led to weeks of mass protest in which 27 people were killed. It also led to a cascade of events which saw elections in December 2007, Musharraf hounded from office, and his escape into exile in Britain in August 2008. The elections brought Zardari — the husband of assassinated leader of the Pakistan People’s Party Benazir Bhutto — to the presidency. But Zardari did not like or trust Chaudry, and Chaudry appears to have reciprocated the sentiments. Zardari did not want to reappoint Chaudry as Chief Justice. As part of a deal between Musharraf and Bhutto to prepare for the 2007 elections and a return to civilian rule — a deal demanded by Britain and the United States — Zardari was released from prison where he was being held on corruption charges. Zardari feared that if he reinstated Chaudry as Chief Justice, one of his first acts would be to rule illegal the new president’s release from prison. But the pressure from all sides to reinstate Chaudry was unstoppable and in March 2009, Zardari relented. His fears about Chaudry’s activism, however, were well-founded. Back on the bench and with the veneration of large numbers of Pakistanis sustaining him, Chaudry took on all comers. His first victim was former prime minister and head of the opposition Muslim League, Nawaz Sharif. In 2009, Chaudry disqualified Sharif from holding public office. Then in late 2011, he turned his attention to the much-feared military secret police, the Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate (ISI). Chaudry’s court ordered the ISI to produce seven suspected militants it had been holding without charge since 2010 and to explain the deaths of four people while in custody. Chaudry then moved on to confront Zardari. When Bhutto was prime minister in the late 1980s, Zardari became known as “Mister Ten Percent” for his alleged demand for payoffs to fix government contracts. His reputation for corruption led to the fall of Bhutto’s government, and Zardari was imprisoned on kidnapping and extortion charges. When Bhutto was re-elected in 1993, Zardari, now free, is alleged to have upped his price for fixing contracts and became known as “Mister Thirty Percent.” About $12 million in alleged kickbacks involved Swiss companies, and these transactions were being investigated by the Swiss authorities. But in 2008, the Pakistan government of then-Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gillani wrote a letter to the Swiss authorities asking them to halt the investigation because Zardari, as president, was immune from prosecution. Chaudry took aim at this letter, and early this year demanded that Gillani write to the Swiss government rescinding the 2008 request and, in effect, reopen the case against Zardari. Gillani refused and in April Chaudry’s court found the prime minister guilty of contempt. In June, Chaudry ruled that as a convicted felon Gillani was ineligible to be prime minister, and he was forced to resign. On Tuesday, the new prime minister, Raja Pervez Ashraf, appeared in the Supreme Court to face the same demand that he write to the Swiss government to rescind the 2008 letter. To the surprise of some, Ashraf agreed. But things have changed since June. After a recent visit to Switzerland by a senior Pakistani legal official, there are reports that the chances of the Swiss pursuing the allegations against Zardari are slim. And Chaudry’s reputation has suffered greatly. He is no longer the champion of the underdog who controls the moral high ground. A real estate developer, Malik Riaz Hussain, alleges that he paid Chaudry’s son, Arsalan Iftikhar, $3.6 million in cash and provided lavish holidays in return for favourable court judgments. He has produced bundles of receipts. The Supreme Court’s response has been to charge Hussain with contempt. Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Manthorpe+clean+hands+clash+between+Pakistan+government+court/7262949/story.html#ixzz26tVTkBWh