Pakistan PM guilty but free

Guilty but free reads the headline.

Pakistan's Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani has been found guilty of contempt of court for refusing to reopen corruption cases against the president.

Many hailed the verdict:

(SOUNDBITE) (Urdu) ISLAMABAD RESIDENT, ZAKIR ABBASI, SAYING:

"The Supreme Court's verdict is right because the prime minister didn't comply with the court orders and he wanted to conceal one person's corruption."

But here at the Supreme Court he was sentenced to just a few minutes incarceration - a purely symbolic gesture.

This man calls for Gilani to resign saying he's not fit to be prime minister.

It is unclear if the token sentence will defuse political uncertainty in Pakistan, where the president and prime minister have clashed with the military and judiciary for the past year.

Lily Grimes, Reuters