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Pakistan's embattled Zardari defies critics
Pakistan's President Asif Ali Zardari aggressively defended his rule Sunday, seeking to contain what could be the most serious challenge to his troubled 15 months in power.
Pakistan's President Asif Ali Zardari aggressively defended his rule Sunday, seeking to contain what could be the most serious challenge to his troubled 15 months in power.
The president, four cabinet ministers and 8,000 bureaucrats, politicians, businessmen and others risk legal action after the Supreme Court last week annulled a two-year amnesty protecting them from corruption charges.
Even before the amnesty collapsed, Zardari suffered from abysmal approval ratings, fuelled by his nickname "Mr Ten Percent" owing to graft allegations and 11 years spent in jail on charges ranging from corruption to murder.
"The man who spent 11 years in jail, does not care about your threats," he told supporters on the second anniversary of the assassination of his wife, former prime minister Benazir Bhutto.
The end of the amnesty has sparked calls for Zardari to resign, rocking the US-backed civilian government at a time of rising extremist attacks and mounting pressure from Washington to crack down on Al-Qaeda and the Taliban.
"They (my opponents) want to destablise democracy. They are not afraid of Zardari, they are afraid of democracy," said the president at Naudero, several kilometres from his wife's grave at Garhi Khuda Bakhsh in southern Pakistan.
At times referring to "non-state actors" and "opponents" it was not always clear to whom Zardari was referring -- whether critics within his party, rival parties, the judiciary or the powerful military establishment.
"Do not think that we are weak. Do not consider our tolerance our weakness. We know how to fight, but a tussle between institutions will weaken Pakistan. You know what happened in Afghanistan and Iraq," said Zardari.
The Pakistan People's Party (PPP) won elections in 2008, marking a long-awaited return to civilian rule, but Zardari's relations with the military are strained and his public approval ratings at rock-bottom.
It is possible lawyers could now challenge his immunity in the Supreme Court and petition judges to declare him no longer eligible for office.
The end of the 2007 National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) was feted by a public disappointed by corruption and government performance as Pakistan grapples with recession, social ills and extremist attacks.
But the ruling party has shown determination to ride out what could evolve into a major crisis, pledging to fight any charges brought against its leaders and refusing to countenance resignations.
