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Subscribe to RSSAs Pakistan's Supreme Court ordered the arrest of the country's president on corruption charges, protestors gathered calling for the resignation of members of the government. ITV's Jonathan Rugman reports from Islamabad.
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- Pakistan was plunged into a fresh political crisis Tuesday after its judiciary ordered the arrest of the prime minister over corruption allegations amid ongoing public protests.
The country’s Supreme Court ordered the detention of Raja Pervaiz Ashraf and others accused of involvement in kickbacks over the construction of power stations -- a surprise development in an ongoing investigation.
It comes as tens of thousands of protesters occupy streets in the capital, Islamabad, demanding the resignation of the entire government.
Muhammed Muheisen / AP
Images of daily life, political pursuits, religious rites and deadly violence.
The demonstrators have pledged to remain on the streets in support of a populist cleric, who some allege is backed by the military.
The court's decision is likely to underline the demands of of Muhammad Tahirul Qadri, who is seeking a crackdown on corruption and other reforms.
Thousands of of his supporters marched on the city Monday, promising to join the local demonstrators to establish a local version of Cairo's Tahrir Square in a bid to oust the government.
Ashraf is nicknamed 'Raja Rental' by local media because of his alleged involvement in corruption over the introduction of so-called 'rental power plants' - independently-owned plants that sold energy to the state in a bid to close a growing demand-supply gap.
Ashraf was the water and power minister at the time of their introduction. The schemes were ruled illegal by a court 12 months ago because of a lack of transparency,
He is the second prime minister installed by the regime of President Zardari - and the second to face a court order. The first, Yousuf Gillani, was removed by the Supreme Court last year for his failure to investigate corruption allegations against Zardari.
Leading Pakistan constitutional lawyer Salman Raja told NBC News he believed Ashraf would remain prime minister, "even in jail."
"He is not likely to be convicted anytime soon," he said."With his arrest the entire democratic project will suffer. And Mr. Qadri's theme will get underlined, conveniently."
He also questioned the timing of the court's announcement, coming amid the major public protests. "They could have done made this order next week. or three months ago, but they chose to pass it here, today."
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Can't wait until we get involved in this.
This won't turn out good.
why is it only women protesting???
We wont get involved....Obama doesnt like Pakistan
Where is the crisis? This is normal in Pakistan.
First Prime Minister of Pakistan, a pure Islamic nation, was killed while addressing a rally!
Many Presidents were jailed or killed.
Like Pakistan or not, they have nukes. If things go to hell over there, you can bet we'll get involved.
Yeah. Nothing like our pea-brained involvement to make the situation TEN TIMES WORSE over there.
Gotta keep the MIC humming and the meat grinders churning, you know.
I think the people of Pakistan are probably a whole lot like the people of most nations; worried about putting food on the table, a roof over their heads, and raising their children in a peaceful nation.
Its always the politicians who manage to screw that up.
I highly doubt there is any worry that the USA will get involved in that internal conflict other than finding it a good place to conduct CIA intelligence. Pakistan's worry as a nation will come from avoiding a war with India. When the Pakistani Govt is in turmoil is when they had better be on alert for such actions.
It is not only Paki politicians who have screwed up, Pakis have to blame themselves for permitting such conditions.
If one screams: Islam is in danger and points in one direction, then a big majority start their hate and killer marches.
One can't notice such Islamic high dosage heroin addicts in many places. And history has not seen such liabilities and curses on earth till now!
Just examine Paki Islamic terrorist acts in the US and bizzare terror plans!
What spins and excuses can one give for such religious mad nuts?
This is the SAME story that has been going on in that wreck of a so called nation for decades. They have no government and basically it has been a failed nation ever since they decided not to be part of India. Problem is you can lead a horse to water...but you can't make Pakistan a country of intelligent people.
When the terrorists who blow up your army are your friends, and the people who bomb the terrorists and send you billions of dollars are your enemy, the problem is you, not them.
I'm kind of hoping China invades them, but China won't on account of having to manage their idiot population.
@ FedupwithFed
Don't be so sure! After all, we are still giving them billions of $'s!!
To bad our courts wont do the same with obama and his admin..
Sounds familiar.
Muslims are good in killing each other inventing enemies. Look at Pakistan, Syria, Iraq and other places.
If Pakis have nukes, one day they are going to use on each other.
So what is the problem if Pakis have nukes?
Corruption allegations in Pakistan's government? Oh God, say it isn't so!
I can think of a few people in all 3 House's here in the states that should be arrested
Looks like a secular pluralistic Pakistan is fading away even more.The crazed pyscho islamists terrorists are waiting in the wings.. if they´re not already on the tree.Let´s hope there are still enough secular military to keep the zombie islamists at bay.If not.. bad news for the country.the region and the whole world!
And yet we cant get Holder out after he caused the death of the border patrol guy.
JMJ & 7.6 add a lot to the discussion. When in doubt knowing nothing about a situation, just throw in an anti Bush, anti Obama post. That will get your name in print.
What more could you expect from Mr. Ten Percent's appointees? He's got a perfect record: 2 prime ministers appointed and 2 prime ministers rung up on court orders.
This could go downhill fast. At some point, I believe the Islamists and military will oust Mr. Ten Percent. The only reason they haven't overthrown him is because they know Pakistan needs to be a client state of someone, whether it be the US, China or anyone else. Overthrow this clown now, and you increase the probability of Pakistan being cut off by the US. As things stand right now, the biggest and best deal for Pakistan, the Islamists, and the Pakistani military is the US. As long as you leave Mr. Ten Percent in there to screw things up, you still have that deal in your hip pocket while being able to pursue bigger and better deals from the likes of China.
From the US perspective, whether it be idiots like Mr. Ten Percent or the Islamists who will some day overthrow him, the most effective course of action is to keep US dollars flowing into Pakistan. As long as the money keeps flowing, you'll have an embassy on the ground, and an embassy equals access. There is no better avenue for the US to develop human intelligence sources and have boots on the ground. In a country like Pakistan, events and intelligence change on a dime. If there's ever a place where one good spy in the right place is worth a thousand soldiers on the ground, it's Pakistan. Cut off the money and you'll be left grasping at straws.
Hell 7.62X39mm - don't limit it to Obama and this admin, we should be doing it for Bush/Chaney admin also, along with a lot of Congress/Senate.
This is very, very, very dangerous, a lesser of two evils situation. The organizations investigating the prime minister and his associates have links to the Haqqani terrorist network and even aided in the Mumbai attacks. They are after one thing, Pakistan's nuclear weapons. If the judicial and intelligence organizations in pakistan succeed in overthrowing the prime minister's government, the nukes will end up in terrorist hands. One of the reasons we give so much money to Pakistan is to keep these nukes under government control and away from the ISI, if the situation gets out of control expect to see some form of American involvement whether you like it or not :(. Muhammad Tahirul Qadri has always been an advocate of peace and a harsh critic of terrorism and violence, but that's exactly what he is pushing his country towards if he pursues this cause.
Brush up on your history and familiarize yourself with the facts before you make judgments about a region or people. Pakistan has had nukes for decades, the government hasn't used them yet. There are branches of the their government that are more tightly linked with terrorist organizations than the government itself. If those branches get their hands on nukes, then they will be used against the Jewish, Zionists, or India.
thats cos the paki nukes are like firecrackers..they are refurbished firecrackers donated to them by chinese....if pak had any real nukes they would have blown themselves up by now....
riverboy: Against India, despite US, British and west help, Pakis got badly defeated in all wars fought since 47.
In 1971 war, Pakis established a new world record in surrender of prisoners.
Israel is too far away. It will take lesser number of days for Israel to wipe Pakistan out of the map.
And does that change the fact that you said IF Pakistan gets nukes they would use them against Muslims? They've had them for decades and you were wrong, deal with it instead of responding with a totally unrelated post about their history in losing wars.
I do believe, things will be getting worse before they get even worse. Stay tune for more blood, violence and military action, coming to a country which doesn't believe in life, liberty or the pursuit of happiness.Can't wait to see how their justice system will function. In a system which has imprisoned so much of its people, not chosen by the people, and obviously firmly against the people.
You live in a country where one believes in life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Yet your government is screwing you daily. When are you going to do something; and what?
Everyone is missing the most important line of this story. They're on the streets IN SUPPORT OF A CLERIC. Just another proof religion and government don't mix. We still don't have religion in our government, but it's not for lack of Republicans trying. That will be the last straw.
antiqueannie..........Get stuffed. You make sh!t statements that say nothing and do nothing.........just like yourself.
SoSickoftheGOP,
And we should take your comment seriously? lol. Hypocrisy, you found a new face.
Yes, you should take it seriously. Evidently you missed the point of the story too.
Don't worry, there is no one in control in Pakistan.
Each section is gunning the other one as guilty. Most are busy inventing enemies and eliminating them.
Sunni extremists are after Shiites, Sufis, Ahmedis and others.
Some are gunning minority tribes like Baluchs, Sindhis, Hazaras and so on.
Some Islamic extremists are going to get Paki nukes and then just watch what is going to happen.
No on is going to GET THE NUKES !!!!! The USA has these SO IN THEIR SIGHTS ------ Come on ----
We have to GET REAL !!!!!!!
The faster that we, the USA, shed our dependence on FORIGEN OIL, and reap the harvests of our own natural resourse NATURAL GAS - the better off we will all be!!!!!
There is one major glitch HOWEVER ----- Why are the 1%ers allowed to CONTINUE THE FRAUD that sells natural gas for EQUIVILANT OR EQUAL TO IMPORTED OIL !!!!
THERE IS SOMETING VERY,VERY, ROTTEN HERE ---- and NO ONE IS ASKING THE QUESTIONS!!!!!
WHY IS NATURAL GAS THAT SHOULD COST ABOUT $0.35 / GALLON AT THE PUMPS ----- ALLOWED TO BE SPECULATED UP TO $3.87 / GALLON ????????????????? WHY ??????????
We would never ever have to worry about a damn thing if the USA was energy independent ---- it is SPECULATORS ----- the 1%ers ------ that keep us worrying about Pakistan, Iran, Palistine, Iraq, Afganastan, AL QUAIDA .......
DOES NO ONE GET IT ????????
EVERYONE ASK THE QUESTION ------
Mark: I agree with you 100 percent.
Don't forget that they have nukes.
They are going to blow each other with nukes and those who go in between them will get nuked first.
Don't forget that we gave them those nukes.
Don't forget that they have nukes.
american cia that throws alms to these paki beggars watches those paki so called nukes carefully...pakis will hav to get permission of their american bosses before they touch their so called nukes.....
Why are their protest signs in English... or is this another case of a photographer paying people to hold signs?
I was wondering the same thing!
If you knew anything about Pakistan, which you obvious don't, you's know, that like India there are many dialects spoken, and the common language is English.
Thank you Mike...saved me the trouble!
I work with engineers in Pakistan and the English spoken by educated people is flawless. All legal documents in Pakistan are in English, as well as all banking transactions.
Isn't it a shame that it is not like that in the good old USA?
Thanks for the information, although I think you could have said it with less hate in your words.
Welcome to the VINE Capn-1.
Its one of the places that magically transforms easy going conversations into direct in-your-face-one-upmanship. If you were face to face with Mike046 I suspect his reply would be different. At least in his tone and choice of words.
Funny I do not remember reading in the COH that responding to a comment makes one 10ft high and bullet proof, but some do get that image in their head when responding. Take it with a grain of salt and have a good day anyway.
Shouldn't be unless Obama is also running in Pakistan for Prime Minister. They could have found another birth certificate.
Every country that follows Islam is a mess...EVERY one of them.
Pakistan, like Saudi Arabia, is actually run by about five or six rich families and this sort of thing will continue to expose more and more of their corruption. I imagine Pakistan will see a 'spring' event later this year, but they know they can kill protesters and get away with it in the name of religion. Of course, they won't reveal WHICH religion.
a "spring" event later this year; interesting, @backtobasics, very interesting
hahhaa..saudis and arabs spit on pakis.....pakis are considered inferior to arabs....
reminds me of obozo's regime, diffrence is the media toadies cover for him.
Yes, yes, think of all the examples: Trent Lott, Mark Sanford, Tom DeLay, etc.
Wil Royson..............Thank you. Good one. You made my day.
Good for Pakistan. Next thing is punishment. Now Zardari has to go. Pakistan is on right path world should support.
Where will these people run?
They have British and other European nations citizenship too!
Where is Gen Mush?
Yet, we still send Billions of US tax payer dollars over there only to watch them vanish into the pockets of the politically corrupt while schools, bridges and roads continue to crumble here in the US. Thanks, Mr. Obama.
Did you post the same thing when Bush was President? At least Obama stepped up the drone attacks, quite successfully so far.
I agree that Mr. Obama's continuation of the Bush drone program has worked well. And no, my position on aid to Pakistan doesn't change based on the political stripe of the person occupying the WH. Why did you support Bush's actions?
all governments look to perpetuate their existance and keep the current system in place...whether through religion or financial oppression ...this system works for those in "command"
Though Pakis are responsible for half of NATO forces death and sheltering Osama, Pakis are still "strategic allies".
If some have static brains, then economic aids continue to pour!
Absolutely! I believe that it was Theodore Heigl that said; "Once an Institution is created through an idea or necessity it sole purpose from that moment on is to maintain its exsistence."
pakistan is the 2nd largest SEWER PIT OF THE WORLD, right behind n korea.
WHY THIS CORRUPT, STINKING GOVERNMENT OF THE USA CONTINUES TO GIVE THAT STINKING, BACKWARDS, WOMAN AND CHILD MURDERING NATION 3 BILLION OF OUR DOLLARS EACH AND EVERY FRIGGIN YEAR IS BEYOND COMPREHENSION.
This GD Friggin stinking crooked congress that we currently have refuses to support the USA but continues to support a terrorist country like the pig sty pakistan.
WTF congress, when are you corrupt pieces of garbage going to get your heads out of your asses?????
The President, Mr. Obama, makes the foreign policy decision, not Congress. I suggest you direct your questions to him. If he decided no"aid" was going to be sent to Pakistan it wouldn't be sent. He is the one sending the "aid".
Wrong, nutwing. Only Congress has the authority to 'tax and spend.' The Supreme Court ordered President Nixon to spend money the Congress has appropriated and Nixon had refused. Only Congress can 'tax and spend.'
I guess he never took 9th grades civics.
@headhunter74....and u took civic lessons from ur mulla..???
Wow, a story on a corrupt Pakistani Muslim, shocking, is their any other kind. This is where our foreign aid goes to in most of the 3rd world sand holes we throw money at with our delusion of "democracy". They play us as saps and it just goes on and on. Stop foreign aid to all countries until we have our own fiscal house in order.
So of you posters need some therapy... get a grip. I know of no government on Earth that doesn't have a bunch of people accusing it of being corrupt. Ever been a President of the United States that everyone thought was great? Not a chance, so, get some therapy and get over it.
Protesters? There is no protest in Islam. The Pakistani people should forget themselves. Lay down self inhonor of Alah. Do any other and suffer the consequences.
".....a popular cleric backed by the military" Well now, that's interesting!! Anyone seeing a pattern here?!
apparently the Pakistani PM is not Muslim enough...and that can lead to death...
If Obama starts uses his executive order platform as a dictatorship, Obama will be arrested on orders of the US Supreme Court. Woudn't that be a hoot?
Wonder if Obama has his safe house set up yet? So far he has only been able to fix 2 SCOTUS votes.
I agree with William-360414.We need to stop giving US tax dollars to countries until the debt is resolved and then afterwards it should be given only in times of emergency. The United States can no longer afford to be the big brother to the world.
This another Tar Baby for sure, just keeps getting nasty. Won't be long and the Muslim Brother Hood will be taking power there too and we'll see another Egypt, except with Nuclear Weapons.A sign of the times for sure, won't be long now.
So what else is new, tell us something we don't already know.
Say it isn't so. Never would have thought that any Pakistan officials would be corrupt. Wow, so shocking. =O
More wonderous foreign policy... Wasn't this the guy that stood so prominantly with Hillary Clinton in all those photo ops, like they were prom dates?
The United States is STILL an ally with India. Mr. President....... PLEASE do not f*ck this up too.
Looks like he took a page straight out of the united states politicians playbook. Politicians are the same in every country. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree comes to mind.