PAKISTAN’S ARMY chief, Gen Ashfaq Kayani, has handed a list of allegedly corrupt or incompetent ministers to President Asif Ali Zardari, demanding their removal, according to western and Pakistani officials.
The tension between Pakistan’s civilian and military leaders is the latest political fallout from floods that have triggered stringent criticism of the government.
Much of the controversy centres on Mr Zardari, who brought scorn on himself by visiting a family chateau in France as the floods gathered pace in August.
A senior western official confirmed reports the army chief had asked the president to remove named loyalists from his 60-member cabinet as part of an internal reform process. The official did not give the requested names. Analysts said the army stance reflected a broader public impatience with the government. An opinion poll last July gave Mr Zardari a 20 per cent popularity rating.
“The way things are configured now, everyone . . . would like to see some kind of shake-up in the current government,” said Cyril Almeida of Dawn.com. “I don’t think it will work. The more pressure you pile on Zardari, the more likely he is to dig in his heels.”
Over the past week, the country’s political classes have been seized by a wave of rumours about an army intervention in politics, ranging from the installation of a Bangladesh-style technocratic government, to the removal of Mr Zardari, to a straightforward coup.
A close Zardari aide denied the army was pressuring the government. “It’s absolute rubbish. This is a rumour-driven crisis, driven by those with a pathological hatred of President Zardari and the PPP.”
Some tension was punctured on Monday after Mr Zardari and the prime minister, Yousaf Raza Gilani, met Gen Kayani, after which they released an anodyne statement about flood relief.
Mr Zardari’s woes are complicated by the hostility he faces from the chief justice, Iftikhar Chaudhry. The supreme court this week resurrected its efforts to have Swiss authorities prosecute Mr Zardari on corruption charges. – (Guardian service)