Islamabad, Dec 19: Pakistan president Asif Zardari on Friday called an emergency meeting of a core group of the Pakistan People’s Party’s ministers to discuss the country’s political situation.
The meeting, attended by prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, Qamar Zaman Kaira, Rehman Malik, and others, plans to evolve a strategy to cope with the situation arising out of a supreme court (SC) verdict on the controversial national reconciliation ordinance, the sources said.
The defence minister has been barred from travelling abroad on the supreme court’s orders and the interior minister faces arrest warrants which have been issued by a lower court, but a presidential spokesman dismissed speculation that the army was planning a coup against the government.
Zardari’sspokesman Farhatullah Babar refuted reports that the army was planning to topple the Pakistan People’s Party government in the wake of the recent apex court ruling, which has revived criminal proceedings against over 200 top politicians, including defence minister Ahmed Mukhtar and interior minister Malik. The National Accountability Bureau, an anti-corruption agency, revived charges against officials and politicians after the SC’s ruling two days back.
It had protected Zardari, Malik, Mukhtar and about 8,000 others from graft and criminal charges. The SC scrapped an amnesty protecting Mukhtar and Malik and hundreds others from corruption charges.
Babar said the country’s top military leaders had made it clear that they were committed to civilian rule and that they wanted to depoliticise the army.
Rumours of a coup started when Pakistan’s ambassador to the United States, Husain Haqqani, said, in response to a question on the defence minister being denied the right to leave, that he hoped there would not be a coup.
A spokesman for the state anti-graft agency said on Thursday that after the amnesty had been lifted, the names of about 248 people had been placed on a list of people barred from leaving the country. The tainted ministers are facing calls to resign.
–Agencies