24 October 2008 : In the News
Former Test cricketer turned politician Imran Khan has warned Pakistan is "heading for disaster" in a speech to London academics.
The Pakistan Movement for Justice chairman accused Pakistan president Asif Ali Zardari of deliberately seeking to avoid the reinstatement of 60 per cent of supreme court judges.
He blamed "corruption" among large swathes of Pakistan's political elite in an address at the International Institute of Strategic Studies yesterday afternoon.
The judges were suspended when former president Pervez Musharraf declared a state of emergency in November last year.
Elections this February saw Mr Zardari's Pakistan People's party form a coalition with the backers of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, but their alliance later collapsed because of Mr Zardari's alleged reluctance to reinstate the judges.
Mr Khan said Mr Zardari had been implicated in murder cases and corruption as well as accusing him of mental illness.
He claimed fears that the national reconciliation ordinance (NRO), an amnesty against a range of cases brought against leading politicians, might have motivated Mr Zardari's stance on the reinstatement of judges.
"Politics is a way to protect your criminal activities. That's why the movement for the reinstatement of the judges is so important," he explained.
"Politics is big business – it's the way you abuse power. The judiciary has always been a B-team."
Mr Khan said he was anxious that Pakistan improves its democratic credentials quickly, given the escalating radicalisation of broad stretches of its society.
He claimed the confusion between the war on terror and the war on Islam had left many forced to make a choice between the Taliban and the Americans, marginalising the petty political struggles in Islamabad.
"The real battle in Pakistan is not fundamentalists and liberals – it's between status quo and the anti status quo," he finished.
"We cannot go on as we are heading now. If we do not change we are heading for disaster."
