(AP) ISLAMABAD – Pakistani lawmakers elected a ruling party loyalist as the new prime minister Friday, despite corruption allegations and his failure to end the country’s energy crisis setting in motion what is likely to be a short and turbulent premiership
(AP) ISLAMABAD – Pakistani lawmakers elected a ruling party loyalist as the new prime minister Friday, despite corruption allegations and his failure to end the country’s energy crisis setting in motion what is likely to be a short and turbulent premiership. The election of Raja Pervaiz Ashraf is unlikely to reduce tensions among Pakistan’s jostling power centers that are destabilizing the nuclear-armed country, which is considered crucial to American hopes of winding down the war in neighboring Afghanistan. The latest round of turmoil was triggered earlier this week when judges at the activist Supreme Court disqualified former Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani for refusing to initiate a corruption investigation against his boss, President Asif Ali Zardari. U.S. Gen.: Afghan hotel attack likely Haqqani The court, considered by many to be hostile to Zardari, is likely to make the same demand of Ashraf, and many are predicting he will meet the same fate as Gilani within months. Ashraf, a minister in the ousted government, was originally put forward as a backup candidate but got the nod after the first choice was hit with an arrest warrant following his nomination on Thursday. The warrant was issued by an anti-narcotics force run by the military, which wields political power and has staged three coups in Pakistan’s short history. Ashraf was elected prime minister by Zardari’s Pakistan People’s Party and its coalition...
Read More
Comentarios recientes