Pakistan court refuses delay in Zardari case

Pakistan's Supreme Court on Monday refused a government request for more time to argue its case against the reopening of corruption charges levied against President Asif Ali Zardari and his allies.

The top court has vigorously opposed attempts to shelve graft investigations against Pakistan's leading politicians, scrapping an amnesty last year that gave more than 8,000 figures immunity from charges.

The unpopular Zardari is immune from prosecution while he is president, but the overturning of the amnesty in December raised the possibility he could lose that protection and a key case against him in Switzerland could be reopened.

The government has fought for a review of the court's decision, but the Supreme Court has continued to pile pressure on the administration.

Last month the Supreme Court gave Zardari's administration a two-week deadline, which expires on Wednesday, to report on its progress in reopening the graft cases.

The government requested more time to engage new counsel but on Monday a panel of three judges headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry turned down the request.

"The court ruled that more time could not be given and the government's lawyer should come and argue the case on Wednesday," the government's lawyer Raja Abdul Ghafoor told AFP outside court.

Interior Minister Rehman Malik and Defence Minister Ahmed Mukhtar are among more than 30 politicians who had cases against them withdrawn under the amnesty.

Beneficiaries also include top government officials and three ambassadors.

The amnesty covers 3,478 cases ranging from murder, embezzlement, abuse of power and write-offs of bank loans worth millions of dollars.

Already the Supreme Court hearing has churned up details of Zardari's alleged personal fortune, and the ruling comes as he faces plummeting public approval, strained relations with the military and a Taliban insurgency.

Zardari's government has come under mounting pressure from the court -- the driving force against graft in the country -- as well as from a largely critical domestic media.

The amnesty was passed in October 2007 by then-president Pervez Musharraf, under international pressure to hold democratic elections and end about eight years of military rule.

Zardari became president in 2008 after his wife, former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, was assassinated in December 2007.

He previously spent two stints in jail totalling 11 years between 1990 and 2004 during trials on 17 charges ranging from corruption to murder, but he was never convicted and was finally released in 2004.

Zardari's term in office is due to end in 2013, although few Pakistani civilian governments complete full terms.

Switzerland dropped its probe into Zardari's affairs after the amnesty was introduced.

Swiss authorities have said it would be impossible to reopen the case while Zardari retains presidential immunity.