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Pakistan travel bans spark fears of coup
The Australian - December 19, 2009
Amanda Hodge – Pakistan's independent corruption watchdog has banned 247 top officials, including the defence and interior ministers, from leaving the country, prompting rumours of a military coup.
The National Accountability Bureau has also begun freezing assets following a Supreme Court decision this week to overturn the controversial National Reconciliation Ordinance and reinstate criminal and corruption charges against some 8000 bureaucrats, including President Asif Ali Zardari.
The move has increased pressure on Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani to remove the corruption-tainted ministers – both important presidential allies – from the cabinet.
According to the Dawn newspaper, a spokesman for Mr Gilani said yesterday the Prime Minister had "started consulting legal experts for the implementation" of the verdict.
The grounding order was effective immediately, preventing Defence Minister Ahmed Mukhtar from leaving the country for a planned three-day official visit to China. Interior Minister Rehman Malik was ordered to face court on Christmas Eve on contempt of court charges relating to interference with the judiciary.
The charges against Mr Malik relate to the sacking of the former Pakistan Steel Mills chairman and alleged interference by the minister in Federal Investigation Agency inquiries.
Mr Mukhtar confirmed his name was on the Exit Control List and federal investigation authorities had blocked him from leaving the country to finalise the delivery of a warship.
"My staff reached the airport along with other delegation members including the naval chief," he told Geo television.
"I was informed that my name is on the exit list. Federal investigation authorities have said that I cannot leave the country.
"It was in connection with a corruption case, but there is no corruption case against me – it is only an inquiry... pending against me for the past 12 years.
Mr Mukhtar said he would "strongly defend" himself in court.
Mr Zardari was not on the list, but officials are deciding whether constitutional immunity from prosecution granted to the President extends to foreign courts.
The Supreme Court's ruling is expected to pave the way for a legal challenge to Mr Zardari's eligibility to contest last year's presidential elections and his constitutional immunity. A 17-member bench of the Supreme Court this week ruled unconstitutional the controversial ordinance, introduced by former president Pervez Musharraf in 2007, to pave the way for the return of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto.
The ruling has effectively reinstated some 3478 criminal and corruption cases quashed under the amnesty, including money-laundering cases against Mr Zardari in Swiss courts.
Presidential spokesman Farhatullah Babar denied suggestions the military was preparing to once again overthrow Pakistan's civilian administration, saying: "There is no coup."
Khalid Rahman, a top analyst with the Institute of Policy Studies, also ruled out suggestions of a military takeover.
"I think there is a lot of resentment for such an eventuality and the army leadership must be aware of that," Mr Rahman said yesterday.
"But with the government in such a weak position, you also cannot expect that things will remain the same."
Mr Zardari is resisting pressure from his chief political rivals in the Pakistan Muslim League (N), the party of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, to step down while he clears his name.
Mr Rahman said the President's moral authority had been damaged by the ruling, and by revelations during the court's deliberation over the ordinance, that he had been facing charges of amassing assets "beyond his means" when Mr Musharraf introduced the ordinance in October 2007.
"Technically, the President enjoys immunity from prosecution, but if the public sentiment is not in his favour and he takes no steps to clear his name then moral justification will not be there for him to continue," he said.
To regain public support, Mr Zardari had little choice but to surrender the extraordinary presidential powers granted to the office under his predecessor Mr Musharraf, he said.
Pakistan defence analyst Ayesha Siddiqa said the Supreme Court's decision had "strengthened the armed forces and their ability to manipulate political stakeholders".
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