ISLAMABAD — Pakistan’s Supreme Court struck down a political amnesty law Wednesday and ordered corruption cases against the country’s pro-Western president, Asif Ali Zardari, and thousands of other politicians reopened.
The decision throws Pakistan, a crucial ally in the U.S. war against Islamic extremists, into a political crisis that’s likely to undermine Zardari, divert his government and strengthen the country’s military leaders, who so far have disregarded the Obama administration’s requests to move against al-Qaeda, Afghan militants based in Pakistan and Pakistani militant groups.
Marvin Weinbaum, a former State Department intelligence analyst who’s now with the Washington-based Middle East Institute, said the high court ruling will neutralize Zardari and could force him to resign.
“He’s toast,” Weinbaum said of Zardari.
Weinbaum added that he expects decision-making power increasingly would revert to Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, who’s widely considered an ally of the military leadership.
Gilani’s “going to do what the army wants him to do,” he said.
In a stinging verdict, the Supreme Court ordered that foreign court cases dropped under the amnesty must be pursued again, and it ordered action in a Swiss lawsuit in which Zardari faces a $60 million money-laundering charge.
Zardari is determined to cling to his position, aides said, but the decision is likely to tie up his government in a barrage of litigation. It also could force the resignation of several government ministers who also must face old court cases against them, including Interior Minister Rehman Malik and Defense Minister Ahmed Mukhtar, both key players in the struggle against armed Islamic militants.
Zardari’s Pakistan Peoples Party claims that it’s the victim of a vendetta by the country’s security establishment, a view that emerged in court when the government’s lawyer, Kamal Azfar, said the democratic system faced danger from “GHQ and the CIA.” He was referring to the general headquarters of the Pakistan army and the American intelligence agency.
Meanwhile, a senior U.S. diplomat said Pakistan has held up visas for U.S. diplomats, military service members and others, apparently because of hostility within the country toward the expansion of U.S. operations in Pakistan.
American diplomats also have been stopped repeatedly at Pakistani checkpoints as part of what U.S. officials say is a wider focus on foreigners working in Pakistan. U.S. cars are searched, although diplomats are told to open the trunk but to refuse access to the passenger compartment.
The visa holdup is the latest tangible sign of the volatility of official U.S.-Pakistani relations. The two nations have an improving military relationship, but mistrust and suspicion still shadow many government interactions, including U.S. attempts to help Pakistan.
