Pakistan court throws out PM contempt appeal | Bangkok Post: news

Pakistan's top court Friday threw out a last-ditch appeal from embattled Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, ordering him to appear in court on Monday to be indicted for contempt.

Pakistani soldiers stand guard outside the Supreme Court building in Islamabad on February 2, 2012. The court has upheld a February 2 order for the prime minister to appear for the framing of contempt charges over the government's two-year refusal to ask Swiss authorities to re-open graft cases against President Asif Ali Zardari.

If convicted, Gilani faces six months in jail and being disqualified from office in a case fanning political instability that expected to force elections within months in the country troubled by Al-Qaeda and Taliban violence.