Finally after months of political bickering and legal banter, we have arrived at the decisive eve. Tomorrow (26th April), Chief Justice Iftikhar will announce the verdict in the contempt of court proceedings against Pakistan's Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani.
Gilani became PM in 2008 when parliament elected him unanimously. It would be safe to say that pre-June 2011, Gilani was an "acceptable" PM to opposition parties as well as to the allies of the PPP. Sure, there were the cases in which his son was involved, but majority of the time, Gilani would take the trip to Raiwind to placate the Sharifs. In 2010, when the government-judiciary tussle over the appointment of Lahore High Court CJ was going on, Gilani went to a dinner hosted by the judges to diffuse tension.
Rumor has it that Gilani would be sentenced tomorrow with the added chance of being disqualified as well. Well, I do not know what is going to happen, but whatever happens, the PPP would try to use it to their advantage. The "Siasi Shaheed" card would most definitely come into play.
To me, Gilani was a fine PM. Corrupt, maybe, but not as nefarious and uncaring as his boss, President Zardari. Gilani disagreed with Zardari on many occasions, and in 2009 there was also talk of him being replaced.
If Gilani is disqualified, a new cabinet will be formed. Expect target killing in Karachi to increase as ANP and MQM tough it out in order to decide to gets more seats, or even the slot of the PM, if Zardari so pleases.
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