Pakistan's corruption battle

After the Pakistani Supreme Court dismissed prime minister Yusuf Gilani, his party's (Pakistan People’s Party) candidate Raja Parvez Asharaf was elected as the 25th Prime Minister of Pakistan on June 22, 2012.

Raja Parvez Asharaf, Pakistan's 25th PM (AFP Photo)

The Dawn newspaper reports that Ashraf, the candidate of the PPP and its coalition partners, received 211 votes while Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s (PML-N) candidate Sardar Mehtab Abbasi received 89 votes.

Five nominations were accepted for the position, including that of controversial Makhdoom Shahabuddin, who has a standing warrant of arrest from the Anti Narcotics Force for his alleged involvement in the Ephedrine import.

According to the Dawn newspaper, Gilani was dismissed after he disobeyed the highest court by refusing to ask Swiss authorities to reopen corruption cases against President Asif Ali Zardari, widower of Benazir Bhutto.

Yusuf Gilani (pictured) was dismissed as Pakistan's prime minister on June 19, 2012 due to his refusal to open a corruption case against President Asif Ali Zardari.

The paper added that Gilani always insisted Zardari had immunity as head of state and that writing to the Swiss would be a violation of Pakistan’s constitution.

"The cases against Zardari date to the 1990s, when he and Bhutto are suspected of using Swiss banks to launder $12 million allegedly paid in bribes by companies seeking customs contracts."

The dismissal of Gilani is not the first time the ruling political party and the Supreme Court clashed over corruption cases. During Pervez Musharraf's presidency, he sacked sitting Supreme Court chief justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry. Lawyers and judges around the country protested the hasty political decision to insulate Musharraf from graft cases. After Musharraf was toppled from power, Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry was reinstated by Zardari, ironically, the man subject for the dismissal of the prime minister.

Opinions on the dismissal of Gilani are diverse. Many are saying that the Supreme Court only acted within its powers and trying to preserve its integrity by fighting corruption, even if it means clashing against the politicians that put them in position. Others are saying that the Chief Justice is also enmeshed in corruption himself. There are allegations that his son is receiving millions of dollars in bribe money to arrange for favourable decisions from the Supreme Court.

With the latest political mess in Pakistan where corruption is again at the centre, stability in this restive South Asian country will be hard to get.

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