Word: zardari
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Pakistan has been plunged into a fresh phase of political instability after the country's two main opposition leaders were barred from elected office. The controversial ruling from the Supreme Court has sparked violent and angry protests against the government of President Asif Ali Zardari in Punjab, the largest and wealthiest province of the country. Just as Pakistan's civilian leadership most needs to unite to tame militants, the country's two main political parties have revived their poisonous rivalry, setting off on a potentially destructive confrontation with each other...
...returning to the position of Prime Minister for a historic third time in a future election has been thwarted. More immediately, Shahbaz Sharif has been dislodged from his position as Chief Minister of Punjab, the elected head of the provincial government. The governor of Punjab - a loyalist of Zardari - has imposed emergency powers in the province, the one area the ruling coalition did not control. Zardari is head of the Pakistan People's Party (PPP), the largest political organization in the country that was once led by his late wife Benazir Bhutto...
Moments after the decision was announced, angry mobs from the Sharifs' Punjabi power base took to the streets in protest. In Islamabad (a federal territory located within the boundaries of Punjab), young men waving the PML-N's green flags and chanting anti-Zardari slogans seized control of two of the capital's main thoroughfares. Panicked shopkeepers in the bustling Aabpara market swiftly pulled down their shutters and fled the area. The youths torched car tires and attacked cars bearing government license plates. Parts of Lahore, the second largest city and capital of Punjab, were brought to a standstill...
...fate of the Swat deal clear in Islamabad, where it has yet to be ratified by President Asif Ali Zardari, whose government is under pressure from Western allies to take a tougher line against the Taliban. Many in his own party privately express misgivings. "What will stop them from going further?" says one member of parliament who asked not to be named. "I don't want my wife or daughter to wear a burqa. What if they don't lay down their weapons? They could be in Peshawar next, or even Islamabad...
Instead of increasing assistance to its old ally, Beijing has apparently been keeping a distance from Islamabad. During Zardari's visit in October, the Chinese snubbed the Pakistani President's request for a full-blown economic bailout. While Beijing did grant Islamabad a soft loan last year worth $500 million, it was nowhere near the estimated $14 billion experts say is needed to get Pakistan back on its feet. "The cooperation we saw during the Musharraf era just isn't there anymore," says Sayem Ali, an economist with Standard Chartered Bank in Karachi. "China would rather develop better relations with...