Arrest order piles pressure on
Zardari By Syed Fazl-e-Haider
KARACHI - Pakistan was plunged into
political turmoil on Tuesday following the Supreme
Court's decision to order the arrest of Prime
Minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf, who took over only
last June, for alleged corruption. His
predecessor, Yousaf Raza Gilani, was forced to
leave office due to a conviction by same court on
contempt charges.
The timing of the
court's move puts added pressure on Ashraf's
government, whose resignation is being demanded by
Pakistani-Canadian cleric-professor Tahirul Qadri,
who is leading tens of thousands in a march on the
capital. The marchers are also calling for
electoral reforms before general elections to be
held before May 17.
The vote would be
overseen by an interim caretaker administration
that is supposed to be neutral, but Qadri is
demanding that the
army have a say in the
composition of the interim administration and that
the caretaker government purge the political
system, disbarring "criminal" politicians.
Reeling from the twin fronts, President
Asif Ali Zardari is said to be mulling various
options, including an in-house change of
leadership.
The court has given
authorities 24 hours to arrest Ashraf and 16
others involved in a rental power projects (RPP)
scheme, which was aimed at boosting electricity
generation to ease the impact of frequent power
cuts. It has said that graft watchdog, the
National Accountability Bureau (NAB), will be held
responsible if any of the respondents manage to
escape.
Critics had dubbed the prime
minister "Raja Rental" as he allegedly took
kickbacks as water and power minister, a post he
left in 2011. He denies the claims.
Declaring the court order a victory, Qadri
warmly welcomed the decision, which arrived just
as he was addressing tens of thousands of
demonstrators outside parliament in Islamabad. He
announced that half of his work was completed and
that the other half would soon be done.
The government "has wasted and brought a
bad end to our armed forces, those armed forces
who are highly sincere, highly competent and
highly capable and highly professional," Reuters
reported Qadri as saying. "Even they can't do
anything because the political government isn't
able to deliver anything from this land. Judgments
are being passed by our great, independent
judiciary but the government is not ready to
implement them."
Ashraf was accused of
receiving kickbacks in the rental power projects
and of buying property in London from the money
earned through corruption during his tenure
between March 2008 and February 2011.
Plans for the installation of 14 RPPs were
sponsored by the water and power ministry under
Ashraf in 2009 at a projected cost of US$5
billion, with the aim of generating a total of
2,250 megawatts of electricity.
Although
nine firms were reportedly given more than 22
billion rupees (US$225 million) in down payments
from the government to commission the projects,
Pakistan's The Nation has reported that "most of
them did not set up their plants and a few of them
installed them but with inordinate delay".
Ashraf's critics hold him responsible for
the country's energy woes - rolling blackouts
began nationwide in early 2008 and continue in
2013, with an energy shortfall of around 5,000
megawatts seeing the crisis intensify particularly
in the sweltering summer months of 2011 and 2012.
The timing of the court's decision - and
Qadri's reaction - is fueling conspiracy theories
in social and political circles. The benchmark KSE
100-share index tumbled more than 3% following the
verdict. "The order was passed on the basis of
a preliminary investigation report presented by
NAB before the SC [Supreme Court], which carried a
rider that the recommendations of the report were
subject to legal advice, which the court did not
wait for ...", wrote the Daily Times in an
editorial.
The Human Rights Commission of
Pakistan (HRCP) says such orders threaten the
democratic process at a time when the country is
still reeling from sectarian bombings last week in
the city of Quetta that killed almost 100.
"It is difficult to measure the misfortune
of the people of Pakistan; on the one hand, we are
still burying the Quetta [bombing] victims and
pondering over its consequences, while on the
other hand Qadri has been haranguing an audience
with double talk and lies... If nothing else, the
judiciary has to weigh the consequences of its
decisions on the state whose interest it is
supposed to safeguard," wrote the HRCP.
Fawad Chaudhry, an aide to Ashraf, told
Reuters that there was "no doubt" the military and
Supreme Court were working together to topple the
government.
Former
cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan, the chief
of the Pakistani Tehrik-e-Insaaf (PTI, or Justice
Movement), has also threatened to lead a march on
Islamabad if Zardari does not step down and Ashraf
is not arrested as per the court's order.
"Free and fair elections cannot take place
while Zardari is here. He is the reason for
Pakistan's destruction," Khan told a press
conference on Tuesday.
Many believe that
Khan, like Qadri, is fully backed by the military
establishment, charges that both politicans deny.
Khan's PTI enjoys large support from Pakistani
youth and in recent months held major rallies in
all four provinces of the country.
If the
army openly wades into the conflict between the
government and the judiciary, this may delay the
election, posing a further threat to the
democratic system. If the generals and judges have
indeed formed an alliance aiming at the creation
of a "controlled democracy", then a new force, not
tried and tested before in politics, could soon be
ruling the country. Some political observers say
the PTI, which is on good terms with both the
judiciary and military, could be the political
wing of that third force. Demands by Qadri
that the army be given a role in determining the
country's electoral future have fueled speculation
that military may be facilitating his protest
march.
"The army isn't in a position to
take over given the security challenges and the
precarious economic situation. All the main
political parties are in favor of elections which
are just round the corner," Bloomberg reported
Mehdi Hasan, a political analyst as saying.
"Qadri, despite his impressive show doesn't have a
political constituency. He can't force a
government to resign that's still enjoying a
majority in parliament."
Judicial activism
reflects a power shift in a country where military
had ruled supreme for the last six decades. It has
been the army in the past that dismissed the
civilian governments but now the judiciary is
powerful enough to oust a sitting premier and his
cabinet.
It also marks a major turnaround
from November 2007, when former Pakistani
president, retired General Pervez Musharraf, fired
the country's top judiciary - including current
Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhary - and imposed
emergency rule.
The major difference
apparent from Pakistan's long history of
military-led coups is that the army's hand is
cloaked by the court's. It seems the rules have
changed - but the game is the same.
Syed Fazl-e-Haider (
www.syedfazlehaider.com ) is a development
analyst in Pakistan. He is the author of many
books, including The Economic Development of
Balochistan, published in May 2004. E-mail,
sfazlehaider05@yahoo.com.
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