Arrest order outstanding for new Pakistani Prime Minister

The government of Pakistan and its Supreme Court just do not get along. The other day the Supreme Court was finally able to remove Prime Minister Yousef Gilani from office for his failure to implement a Supreme Court ruling.




In repsonse to this action, the Pakistani government appointed a new prime minister the former Health and Finance Minister Makhdoom Shahabuddin. However, this appointment is itself problematic.




The ANF Pakistan's anti-drug task force announced that the Supreme Court had approved the arrest of Shahabuddin some while ago earlier this month. Somehow the order to arrest did not get carried out.




. The former health minister is part of a scandal involving the projected export of ephedrine to Iraq. The export orders were fake. Somehow the ephedrine ended up being used for production of illegal drugs in Pakistan. A number of officials have already been arrested but Shahabuddin was the big fish. Perhaps the new prime minister will immediately go on an extended world tour. For more see this article.



UPDATE: The article I used was from antiwar.com. Other sources list a different prime minister. For example here.

""Raja Pervaiz Ashraf, a longtime ally of President Asif Ali Zardari, who faces corruption allegations, was chosen by parliament Friday as Pakistan's prime minister, taking over a government locked in a bitter war with a hostile judiciary and struggling with a tide of daunting economic and security challenges.""

Whichever story is correct both face corruption allegations! I found the Ashraf name at several sources so probably the antiwar.com article made a mistake although no doubt the person discussed faces arrest.

Pakistani PM: Next U.S. leader must stop missile attacks.

Neither Obama nor McCain have given any indication that they will change policy on attacks in Pakistan. If anything Obama is the more hawkish. I can't see why Americans think that Obama is an agent of change. He has neo-con advisers and is cheerleader for US imperialism just as much as Bush ever was. Perhaps Obama is a bit more progressive on domestic issues and may actually use the government to help people in some ways such as guaranteeing mortgages but on the foreign policy front he is a disaster waiting to happen. He will pull troops from Iraq only to send them to Afghanistan to fight a fruitless battle there.


Next U.S. leader must stop missile attacks: Pakistan
Last Updated: Tuesday, November 4, 2008 7:09 AM ET
CBC News
The next American president must develop a policy to deal with Pakistan that halts missile strikes on insurgent targets in the country's northwest, Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said Tuesday.
"No matter who the president of America will be, if he doesn't respect the sovereignty and integrity of Pakistan … anti-America sentiments and anti-West sentiment will be there," Gilani said.
U.S. missile strikes on insurgent targets are inflaming anti-American sentiment in the country, Gilani told the Associated Press.
Gilani met with U.S. Gen. David Petraeus, who is making his first tour of the region since taking over U.S. Central Command last week, and delivered the same message but got no guarantee the attacks would end, he said.
Petraeus has also met with President Asif Ali Zardari, army chief Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani and other senior Pakistani leaders.
Uneasy allies
Pakistan and the United States have been uneasy allies in the American-led war on terror but tensions over the alleged cross-border attacks have tested relations between the two countries.
Over the last two months, the United States has launched at least 17 strikes on militant targets in the region of Pakistan that borders Afghanistan.
The strikes have reportedly killed at least 168 people, many of whom were civilians, according to Pakistani officials.
Shaping a policy to deal with the militant threat in nuclear-armed Pakistan and its new civilian leaders will be a key task for the next U.S. president, Gilani said, as Americans were heading to the polls on Tuesday.
Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama has said if he is elected, he could launch unilateral attacks on high-value terrorist targets in Pakistan as they become exposed and "if Pakistan cannot or will not act" against them.
Republican rival John McCain has said engaging Pakistanis is vital to defeating extremists and that cross-border strikes shouldn't be discussed "out loud."
The mountainous tribal area bordering Afghanistan is a known haven for al-Qaeda and Taliban militants and is also believed to be the possible hiding place of Osama bin Laden.
The United States has alleged the groups use the area to mount attacks against American and NATO troops in neighbouring Afghanistan.
Washington has urged Pakistan to assert control in the region and take stiffer action against militants. There's been growing concern in the U.S. that Pakistan is unwilling or incapable of rooting out extremists in its border region.
But some Pakistani leaders and citizens have condemned American-led operations that have crossed the border as a violation of the country's sovereignty.
Attacks uniting militants: Gilani
The attacks are "uniting the militants with the tribes. How can you fight a war without the support of the people?" Gilani said.
The U.S. should share intelligence with the Pakistan military so the country can go after targets itself, Gilani said.
"Either they should trust us and they should work with us, otherwise, I think it's a futile exercise," he said.
He added the continued U.S. missile strikes are a distraction from Pakistan's own anti-insurgent operations, which are being conducted in the country's northwest.
"Their strategy is not coinciding with our strategy," Gilani said. "Our strategy is to take one area at one time."

Bush praises Pakistan just hours after U.S. strike.

This is from the NY Times.
Gilani may be able to neglect to mention the missile strike on Pakistani soil but it will be noticed in Pakistan as I note in another post. This is the second time that Midhat Umar has been reported killed so we still will need to wait to have the kill confirmed. Apparently seven people were killed including the head of a school. That the U.S. should carried out this attack just hours before Bush met with Gilani is meant to send a message to Pakistan. With other attacks inside Pakistan and with the new nuclear deal with India, the U.S. can expect that whatever Pakistan may say they will probably work for some type of deal with the Taliban and even try to undermine the Karzai government and also the influence of India in Afghanistan.

July 29, 2008
Bush Praises Pakistan Just Hours After U.S. Strike
By STEVEN LEE MYERS
WASHINGTON — President Bush on Monday praised Pakistan’s commitment to fighting extremists along its deteriorating border with Afghanistan, only hours after an American missile strike destroyed what American and Pakistani officials described as a militant outpost in the region, killing at least six fighters.
Mr. Bush, meeting with Pakistan’s prime minister, Yousaf Raza Gilani, at the White House, sought to minimize growing concerns that Pakistan’s willingness to fight extremists was waning, allowing the Taliban and Al Qaeda to regroup inside Pakistan and plan new attacks there and beyond.
Senior American officials, including Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice just three days ago, publicly scolded Pakistan for not doing more to root out safe havens like the one bombed on Monday in Azam Warsak, a village in South Waziristan near the Afghan border.
Among those believed to have been killed in the missile attack, evidently carried out by a remotely piloted aircraft operated by the Central Intelligence Agency, was an Egyptian identified as a senior Qaeda trainer and weapons expert, according to residents and officials in the area, as well as American officials. Neither the operative’s identity nor that of the others has been confirmed.
The officials spoke anonymously because of the political and diplomatic sensitivities of attacking targets in Pakistan.
The Egyptian operative, Midhat Mursi al-Sayid Umar, also known as Abu Khabab al-Masri, appears on the State Department’s list of 37 most-wanted terrorists, with a reward of $5 million for his capture. He is said to be the man who designed the explosives that Richard C. Reid, the so-called shoe bomber, hid in his sneakers during a failed attempt to blow up an airliner on a flight from Paris to Miami in 2001.
He was falsely reported to have been killed in a similar attack in January 2006 in news accounts that attributed the claim to Pakistani officials. The timing of Monday’s strike, the latest in a series by remotely piloted American aircraft inside Pakistan, coincided with the first official visit by Mr. Gilani to the United States.
The meetings on Monday carefully sidestepped the political and diplomatic sensitivities that have strained relations ever since political opponents of the country’s authoritarian president, Pervez Musharraf, won elections this year and formed a governing coalition lead by Mr. Gilani.
Neither Mr. Bush nor Mr. Gilani discussed the American strike inside Pakistan, nor recent episodes like the American bombing of a border post in June that killed 11 Pakistani soldiers and inflamed anti-American sentiment. The two leaders appeared eager to show that they were working together closely and respectfully.
With Mr. Gilani by his side on the South Lawn, Mr. Bush praised Pakistan as “a strong ally and a vibrant democracy” and expressed appreciation for “the prime minister’s strong words against the extremists and terrorists.”
“We talked about the need for us to make sure that the Afghan border is secure, as best as possible,” Mr. Bush said before the leaders continued their discussions. “Pakistan has made a very strong commitment to that.”
In his brief remarks and in a joint statement later, Mr. Bush also expressed respect for Pakistan’s sovereignty.
Mr. Gilani, himself seeking to demonstrate his government’s willingness to fight extremism, noted that his party’s leader, Benazir Bhutto, died in an attack by extremists in December.
“This is our own war,” he said, speaking in English. “This is a war which is against Pakistan. And we’ll fight for our own past. And that is because I have lost my own leader, Benazir Bhutto, because of the militants.”
Mr. Bush also announced that the United States would provide $115 million in food aid, including $42 million in the next nine months, to help Pakistan deal with rising food prices, and pledged to support Congressional efforts to expand American aid to areas beyond security and military affairs, including education, energy and agriculture.
The focus of their meetings remained terrorism, though. Asked about tensions in the relationship, the White House press secretary, Dana M. Perino, acknowledged what she described as “the complex issues on the border” between Pakistan and Afghanistan but suggested that differences were overblown.
“It’s tense in that we are working together to try to fight counterterrorism,” she said, “but I think that we are much more on the same page than some people would like to paint.”
In Pakistan, officials and a resident with ties to the Taliban in South Waziristan said Monday’s strike occurred before dawn. At least two missiles hit a compound that had been used as a school, the officials said.
The local resident, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said there had been a meeting at the compound on Sunday, but that many of the attendees had left. A local militant commander, Maulavi Nazir, said the strike left seven people dead, including the head of the school. He complained of frequent American strikes in Pakistan and violations of its airspace.
In Washington, officials were still awaiting confirmation that Mr. Midhat, the Qaeda operative, was among those killed, an American official said.
If so, the official said, it would deal Al Qaeda a significant blow.
“This guy is one of their absolute key specialists in poisons and explosives,” the official said. “He was also a key trainer of people involved in operations inside and outside the tribal areas.”
Mr. Midhat helped Al Qaeda and Taliban plotters tailor bombs or poisons for specific terrorist missions, according to the official and the State Department’s rewards list..
“It doesn’t mean they can’t find other trainers,” the official said, “but they will have lost their most seasoned trainer.”
Ismail Khan contributed reporting from Peshawar, Pakistan, Pir Zubair Shah from Islamabad, and Eric Schmitt from Washington.

Pakistan's President Swears in New Prime Minister

This is from VOAnews.
Musharrif may face insuperable problems if the ruling coalition should re-instate the ousted justices as seems likely. The People's Party coalition can hardly make a deal with Musharraf without alienating its partner in the coalition. Sharif's party was consistent in supporting the justices whereas Bhutto's party waffled. U.S. policy may face resistance from Sharif.

Pakistan's President Swears in New Prime Minister
By Steve Herman
Islamabad
25 March 2008


Pakistan's president has sworn in a political enemy as prime minister. Meanwhile, two top U.S. State Department officials have arrived in the country for talks with the embattled president and the new government leaders. VOA Correspondent Steve Herman reports from Islamabad.


President Pervez Musharraf greets newly-elected Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani after swearing-in ceremony, 25 Mar 2008
At exactly noon, stone-faced President Pervez Musharraf, administered the oath of office to a the new prime minister, Yousuf Raza Gilani, who spent more than four years in jail under Mr. Musharraf's rule.

"May Allah Almighty help and guide me, Amen," the president said.

"May Allah Almighty help and guide me, Amen," Mr. Gilani repeated.

Some supporters of the prime minister then began chanting "Long Live Bhutto."

If she had not been assassinated on December 27, it is possible former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto would have been the one taking the oath of office.

Her Pakistan Peoples Party swept to victory on a wave of sympathy in last month's
elections. The runner-up party, led by former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, has joined the party of his rival, the late Ms. Bhutto, to form an anti-Musharraf coalition.

Pakistan's evolving political framework throws into doubt the level of the country's future cooperation with the United States on confronting terrorism. Mr. Musharraf has been a staunch ally of Washington in the global anti-terrorism campaign.

Just hours before Tuesday's midday ceremony, two top envoys of the United States arrived in Pakistan. John Negroponte and Richard Boucher are in the country for meetings with top Pakistani officials. Negroponte is deputy secretary of state. Boucher is assistant secretary for South and Central Asian affairs.

They met Tuesday morning with former Prime Minister Sharif, a key player in the new coalition. The American officials are also expected to talk with the president, as well as the new prime minister.

A showdown is looming between the new government and the president concerning the judiciary. The coalition has pledged to restore to the bench judges removed last year by the president. But the replacement Supreme Court has ruled the dismissals of
their predecessors to be constitutional.

After his selection by parliament, the new prime minister immediately freed the ousted
judges, who had been under house arrest for more than four months.