ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — More than 40 Pakistanis were killed in
bombings Monday in Lahore and Peshawar in the latest evidence that religious
extremists who threaten to re-conquer Afghanistan also threaten the stability
of Pakistan.
In the eastern city of Lahore, a twin bombing at a market
killed at least 34 and injured 109, according to senior local official Khusro
Pervaiz. The explosions touched off a big fire at the Moon market, which women
frequent, and security authorities feared more victims are still buried under
rubble. Many of the casualties were children.
In the northwestern city of Peshawar, police stopped an
attacker outside a court building, but he blew himself up and killed at least
10. In the past, the Pakistani Taliban and other Islamic extremist groups had
attacked military or police targets almost exclusively, but more recent attacks
have been directed at civilians in public places.
President Asif Ali Zardari Monday visited the victims of
Friday’s bombing at a mosque used by army personnel in Rawalpindi, headquarters
of the Pakistan military. Accompanying him was General Ashfaq Kayani, the army
chief, a joint appearance that indicated the army and civilian leadership see
eye to eye over combating terrorism.
Meanwhile, Pakistan’s civilian-led government headed into
new turmoil as the high court began its review of a legal amnesty for
politicians and bureaucrats.
Should the court throw out the amnesty, old criminal charges
could be revived against the interior and defense ministers, senior government
officials and even president Zardari. Surprisingly, the government failed to
mount any defense of the law.
Although Zardari enjoys immunity as president, some lawyers
claim this protection will not apply to allegations against him, mostly
concerning alleged corruption, dating from the period long before he became
president.
The case also opens the way for a court challenge to
Zardari’s eligibility to be president, in what appears to be a determined
campaign by his political enemies to unseat him or severely weaken him.
President Barack Obama’s newly announced plan for
stabilizing Afghanistan relies heavily on Pakistan to act on its side of the border.
However, Zardari and his government could instead be consumed by a fight for
survival. The U.S. has invested considerable effort in building the
relationship with Zardari and his civilian government, after backing a military
regime in Pakistan until 2008.
The lawsuit challenging the amnesty claims it unfairly
favors a small class of people, politicians and bureaucrats, while the rest of
the people of Pakistan have to fight out their cases out in the courts
“It is time to begin an operation to clean up
Pakistan,” said Mubashir Hasan, a former finance minister who brought the
main petition, speaking outside the court. “The ruling class . . . should
be swept away so that a new era can begin.”
The American and British governments helped broker the
amnesty in 2007 in a deal with General Pervez Musharraf, then the Pakistani
president, and former prime minister Benazir Bhutto. The accord enabled her to
return to Pakistan from exile to contest elections without the risk of old
accusations landing her in the courts.
According to Bhutto’s Pakistan Peoples Party, corruption
charges against her and Zardari, her husband, were politically motivated.
Zardari, who succeeded his wife as head of the party after she was assassinated
in December 2007, spent 11 years in jail in Pakistan without any charges proved
against him.
The ruling Pakistan Peoples Party Lawyers helped create the
amnesty, benefitted from it and unsuccessfully tried to get the law passed by
parliament. Many lawyers expressed surprise the party didn’t even try to argue
in court that the amnesty was necessary to revive democracy in Pakistan, by
allowing exiled politicians to return.
Pakistan’s independent-minded chief justice, Iftikhar
Chaudhry, has constituted an enormous bench of 17 judges to hear the case,
providing strength for what could be a momentous decision.
Via McClatchy-Tribune News Service.
