Pakistan’s institutions are increasingly being diminished in a series of bruising turf battles. In the latest episode of a long-running serial, Pakistan’s Supreme Court has asked new Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf to appear before it yet again on September 18 for failing to write to the Swiss authorities to re-open corruption cases against President Asif Ali Zardari.
Ashraf could well meet the same fate as Yusuf Raza Gilani, who was ejected from the prime minister’s office on June 19 for refusing to obey the Supreme Court’s orders relating to alleged fraud committed by Zardari.
This is not a new scenario. Since the 1954 dissolution of Pakistan’s Constituent Assembly to successive military takeovers in 1958 (Ayub Khan), 1969 (Yahya Khan), 1977 (Zia-ul-Haq) and in 1999 by Pervez Musharraf, the judiciary has played a key role in legitimising the usurpation of civilian authority by Pakistan’s generals.