LAHORE, Pakistan — With his supporters rioting for a third day, opposition leader Nawaz Sharif blamed Pakistan’s government Friday for the political turmoil set off by a court order barring him from elected office — unrest that he warned could be exploited by Islamic extremists.
Giving his first interview since the ruling Wednesday, Sharif accused President Asif Ali Zardari of “declaring martial law on democracy.”
Sharif’s interview with The Associated Press came amid political squabbling that is sure to distract the government of this nuclear-armed country from grappling with the Taliban and al-Qaeda threat spreading from the tribal areas along the frontier with Afghanistan.
Pakistan also is in the middle of a tense time with neighboring India over the deadly militant attack on Mumbai, and Sharif said Zardari’s pro-Western government isn’t going to be able to face any of its key tasks if it continues to wage political war on him.
The political uproar set off by the court ruling against Sharif is lining up influential civic groups led by disgruntled lawyers with Sharif’s increasingly popular Pakistan Muslim League against Zardari. It’s a confrontation that will also feed worries about military intervention, a frequent result of political turmoil in Pakistan.
“I think we are heading for some sort of unfortunate situation,” Sharif said. “There are a lot of forces — the militants, the extremists — they are all there to take advantage.”
The Supreme Court ruling upheld a ban on Sharif from contesting elections because of a past criminal conviction related to the 1999 military coup that ended his second term as prime minister and put Pervez Musharraf in power.
