Pakistan PM convicted of contempt

Pakistan's Supreme Court convicted the prime minister of contempt on Thursday but gave him only a symbolic few minutes of detention inside the court, leaving the premier in power but weakened and facing fresh calls to resign.

The ruling against Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani sharpened political uncertainty and tensions between the government and the court that have effectively crippled an administration struggling to tackle enormous economic and security challenges.

The court had the power to sentence the prime minister to prison and order his immediate dismissal from office.

It chose not to, delivering instead a symbolic punishment but one that could be used as the basis to push Gilani from power in the months to come.

The parliamentary speaker and election commission must now decide whether the conviction is reason to dismiss Gilani as a lawmaker, and hence as prime minister.

This could take up to four months and be contested legally every step of the way, meaning Gilani could remain prime minister until elections this year or early next. That may be taken as an achievement in itself in a country with a history of repeated coups and judicial machinations against elected governments.

Gilani's resignation was out of the question, said Information Minister Qamar Zaman Kaira. "The prime minister has not been convicted of any moral crime. No one needs to give us a lesson in morality."

Gilani is the longest-serving prime minister in the history of Pakistan, where civilian governments have repeatedly been toppled by the country's powerful military, often with the support of the Supreme Court, which critics allege is heavily politicized. Corruption charges have routinely been used to target those in power, or seeking to return.

The prime minister arrived at the court house flanked by government ministers and in a shower of rose petals tossed by supporters.

The ruling said he was guilty of contempt but would serve a sentence only "until the rising of the court", or by the time the judges left the chamber. That happened about three minutes after the verdict was handed down.

Thursday's verdict was the culmination of a process that began in a Supreme Court decision in 2009 ordering the government to ask authorities in Switzerland to reopen a long dormant corruption probe against President Asif Ali Zardari dating back to the 1990s. Gilani refused, saying the president had immunity from prosecution, and in January the court ordered contempt proceedings against him.