ISLAMABAD – Pakistan's prime minister told the Supreme Court Tuesday that the government would comply with a longstanding demand to reopen an old corruption case against the president, defusing a conflict that has roiled the country's political system and led to the ouster of the last premier. The apex court gave the government until Sept. 25 to draft the letter and present it to the court and also exempted Prime Minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf from appearing until next orders. The prime minister along with coalition partners attended the contempt proceedings and told the court that the government has decided to withdraw ex-attorney general Malik Qayyum's letter that was written to Swiss authorities in Pervez Musharraf's tenure. He said that he has directed Law Minister Farooq H. Naek to withdraw the letter written to Swiss authorities asking for the closing of all cases against the president. The cases that had been closed by Malik Qayyum's letter can now be reopened by the Swiss authorities if they so choose. “I don't want to be seen standing on the wrong side of history,” Ashraf said, appearing before the judges. President Asif Ali Zardari is likely in little immediate danger as he is recognized as enjoying immunity from prosecution as a foreign head of state. But the move could leave Zardari open to the risk of prosecution after his term ends in 2013. The decision, however, came as somewhat of a surprise to many in Pakistan, given that the government had refused for months to follow the court's order to write a letter to Swiss authorities asking them to reopen the case. Pakistan's law minister recently traveled to Switzerland to talk to officials about the case, and analysts said the government may have decided the risk of the Swiss reopening the proceedings was low enough. “My view is that the government would never write a letter if they had not foreclosed any risk from doing so,” said Rasul Bakhsh Rais, a political science professor at Lahore University of Management Sciences. – SG
