Confronted by SC and army, Zardari refuses to quit
Parliament to meet today as judges warn of action against President, PM
Amid a looming confrontation between the Supreme Court and the government, Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari on Wednesday made it clear that he did not intend to resign even as an urgent session of parliament has been called to consider the situation.
Zardari through his spokesman refuted reports that he had offered to resign at a meeting of his Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and its allies late on Tuesday night.
“Neither in the allies’ meeting on Tuesday night nor at any other stage has the President offered to resign and the reports suggesting otherwise are contrary to the facts and reality of the situation,” presidential spokesman Farhatullah Babar said in a brief statement.
“There is no truth in these reports,” Babar said while reacting to reports in a section of the media that said Zardari had offered to resign during the meeting jointly chaired by Zardari and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani at the presidency.
At the meeting, the ruling coalition leaders decided to call an urgent session of parliament on Thursday in the wake of a warning from the Supreme Court that action could be taken against Zardari and Gilani for failing to reopen high-profile corruption cases.
The Supreme Court had warned on Tuesday that action could be taken against both the President and Prime Minister for failing to act on a court order to re-open corruption cases that were closed under a graft amnesty issued by former military ruler Pervez Musharraf in 2007.
The amnesty was struck down by the Supreme Court in December 2009. Since then, the apex court has been pressuring the government to reopen corruption cases against Zardari and over 8,000 other beneficiaries of the amnesty.
The government has refused to act on the court’s directives to reopen cases of alleged money laundering against Zardari in Switzerland, saying the President enjoys immunity from prosecution. Following the Tuesday’s court order, the heads of the parties in the ruling coalition led by the PPP proposed that a session of the National Assembly or lower house of parliament should be “urgently called to discuss the latest political issues”, Babar had said on Tuesday night.
Situation moving towards collision
Experts foresee a situation in Pakistan as “head-on confrontation” where the judiciary, military and executive will try to assert themselves, reports PTI from New York.
The New York Times quoted Lahore-based political and military analyst Hasan Askari Rizvi as saying in a report, “The situation is fast moving towards a head-on confrontation,” given the Supreme Court’s threat to take action against Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani for failing to act on a court order to re-open high-profile corruption cases.
