W. Khan/European Pressphoto Agency
Supporters of Muhammad Tahir ul Qadri, who addressed protesters outside parliament on Tuesday, repeated calls for the ouster of the government.
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan – Pakistan’s supreme court ordered the arrest of Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf in a corruption case on Tuesday afternoon, dramatically raising the stakes in a tense standoff between the government and its opponents.
The court order came as an enigmatic preacher turned politician, Muhammad Tahir ul Qadri, addressed thousands of supporters outside parliament and repeated calls for the government’s ouster. In earlier speeches, he said that a caretaker administration led by technocrats should take its place.
The confluence of the two events stoked growing speculation that Pakistan’s powerful military was quietly supporting moves that would delay general elections that are due to take place this spring, most likely through the imposition of a military-backed caretaker administration.
“Victory, victory, victory. By the grace of God,” Mr. Qadri at the conclusion of a speech to his supporters who were camped outside the parliament.
It was not certain that the two events were linked. Some analysts said that in calling for the prime minister’s arrest, the court, which is led by the independent-minded chief justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, was simply taking advantage of anti-government sentiment generated by Mr. Qadri in order to pursue its longstanding grudge against President Asif Ali Zardari.
Whatever the motivations, the court’s actions added to the chaos in Pakistan, with the stock market dropping 3 percent after word of the court’s order came down.
In its order issued Tuesday, the Supreme Court ordered the National Accountability Bureau, a government body that investigates graft, to arrest Mr. Ashraf and 15 other senior current or former officials, including a former finance minister and a former finance secretary.
The case relates to longstanding allegations that Mr. Ashraf took millions of dollars in kickbacks as part of a deal to build two electricity power plants while serving as minister for water and power between March 2008 and February 2011.
The order comes more than a year after two opposition figures filed a complaint in the supreme court against Mr. Ashraf. Three months later, in March 2012, the court ruled that that power plants were illegal, ordered their closure, and instituted proceedings against Mr. Ashraf.
The case has particular political resonance because Pakistan’s energy crisis, which has seen severe electricity rationing across the country, is the source of some of the main complaints against the government.
Fawad Chaudhry, a senior adviser to Mr. Ashraf , said that any attempt by the court to arrest the prime minister be "illegal and unconstitutional."
"Under the law, the court cannot arrest him," he said, adding that his office was awaiting official notification of the reported court order. "If it has done so, it is illegal and unconstitutional."
President Zardari has called a meeting of senior advisers at his Karachi residence to discuss the crisis late Tuesday, he added.
Mr. Zardari’s supporters have painted the prosecution as part of a politically-tinged drive by Justice Chaudhry to unseat Mr. Zardari. Mr. Ashraf came to power last summer after the supreme court forced his predecessor, Yousaf Raza Gilani, to resign from office over another corruption-related case.
Whether there was any link between the court order and Mr. Qadri’s march on Islamabad – billed by the preacher as a “million man march” but in reality far smaller – the timing was certainly striking.
In his speech Mr. Qadri – who returned barely one month ago to Pakistan from Canada, where he also holds citizenship – demanded the immediate resignation of the government, and painted the country’s elected politicians as “criminals” who deserved to be prosecuted for corruption.
Pakistan Supreme Court Orders Arrest of Prime Minister
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Pakistan Supreme Court Orders Arrest of Prime Minister
