Now Obama just has to worry about Pakistan’s Supreme Court
My colleague Katie Cella gave some background on Monday on the ongoing showdown between the ruling Pakistan People’s Party and the country’s Supreme Court, which is pressing for a corruption investigation against President Asif Ali Zardari. In recent weeks, the court has dismissed Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani as well as his successor Makhdoom Shahabuddin. ...
My colleague Katie Cella gave some background on Monday on the ongoing showdown between the ruling Pakistan People's Party and the country's Supreme Court, which is pressing for a corruption investigation against President Asif Ali Zardari. In recent weeks, the court has dismissed Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani as well as his successor Makhdoom Shahabuddin.
My colleague Katie Cella gave some background on Monday on the ongoing showdown between the ruling Pakistan People’s Party and the country’s Supreme Court, which is pressing for a corruption investigation against President Asif Ali Zardari. In recent weeks, the court has dismissed Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani as well as his successor Makhdoom Shahabuddin.
Now the court seems to have new Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf in its crosshairs, ordering him on Wednesday to re-open a corruption case against Zardari, which concerns Swiss bank accounts held by him and his late wife, Benazir Bhutto, during the 1990s. Ashraf has until July 12 to respond, and many observers don’t see him lasting much longer than that. There are also pending allegations against Ashraf himself for corruption and bribe-taking from his time as water and power minister. As Richard Leiby writes in the Washington Post, the ongoing saga has implications for U.S. policy as well:
The legal and political upheaval has complicated U.S. efforts to broker a compromise with Pakistan to reopen vital NATO supply routes that pass into landlocked Afghanistan through Pakistani territory. The routes have been shut for more than seven months, creating a logistical headache not only for the Pentagon but also for other international forces, including France’s, that require access to Pakistan’s southern port to withdraw vast quantities of materiel from Afghanistan.
It’s obviously difficult to negotiate with a government that may fall at any moment. With John Roberts and co. out of session for a few months, the White House may now be turning its attention to Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry’s equally unpredictable deliberations.
Joshua Keating was an associate editor at Foreign Policy. Twitter: @joshuakeating
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