Pakistani SC strikes down contempt law, on collision course with government again

Pakistan's Supreme Court on Friday struck down a new contempt of court law passed by parliament that aimed to provide protection to the prime minister and senior government officials, setting the judiciary and the executive on yet another collision course.

A five-judge bench of the apex court, headed by chief justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, struck down the Contempt of Court Act, 2012, as it violated the basic principle of equality among citizens.

The ruling puts the court on a path of confrontation with the government, as it has declared that the newly-appointed prime minister, Raja Pervez Ashraf, has to inform it by 8 August whether he intends to write to Swiss authorities, seeking a re-opening of cases against president Asif Ali Zardari, as directed by the apex court.

Ashraf's predecessor Yousuf Raza Gilani was convicted of contempt by the court for failing to write to the Swiss authorities. Pakistan's parliament then passed a new law in July, providing protection to the prime minister against contempt charges.

The ruling Pakistan People's Party (PPP) has been battling the supreme court for the past 30 months, resisting demands by the chief justice to reopen corruption cases against Zardari and to probe the alleged siphoning off of assets to Switzerland.

Zardari – popularly known as "Mr 10 per cent" for allegedly having demanded bribes on all government dealings when his late wife, former prime minister Benazir Bhutto ruled the country – was found guilty in absentia by a Swiss court in 2003.