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Court Settles Showdown With Pakistani Government


Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari addresses the 67th United Nations General Assembly at UN Headquarters in New York in late September.
Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari addresses the 67th United Nations General Assembly at UN Headquarters in New York in late September.
Pakistan's top court has approved a draft letter from the government to Swiss authorities to reopen an investigation into corruption allegations against President Asif Ali Zardari.

The Supreme Court also on October 10 ordered the government to deliver the letter to Swiss authorities within a month.

The move ended a showdown with the government over corruption allegations against Zardari which has dragged on for three years.

Since December 2009, the Supreme Court has insisted that the government reopen graft cases against Zardari in Switzerland that were frozen when he became head of state in 2008.

Earlier this year, it convicted and dismissed Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani for refusing to ask Switzerland to reopen the cases.

The government, however, appeared to back down last month by agreeing to write to the Swiss.

Allegations against Zardari date back to the 1990s, when he was accused of using Swiss bank accounts to launder bribes.

Based on reporting by dpa and AFP

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