Raja Pervez Ashraf, a former cabinet minister with a controversial reputation, won a handsome majority of votes with the support of Mr. Zardari’s Pakistan Peoples Party, which leads the coalition government.
After the vote, Mr. Ashraf strode through the wood-paneled chamber, smiling broadly, before rising for his maiden speech as the premier of this troubled, nuclear-armed nation of about 180 million people.
“We are standing at a critical juncture,” he said. “We can either move forward or lapse backward.”
Mr. Ashraf’s swift ascent to power, predicted by few, capped an unusually turbulent week that highlighted the fluid dynamics of Pakistan’s power game. As a former minister for water and power, he bears some responsibility for the chronic electricity shortages that provoked riots in Punjab Province early this week. He also faces a corruption investigation.
But for now, Mr. Ashraf’s greatest challenge may be to stay in office.
On Tuesday, the Supreme Court dismissed his predecessor, Yousaf Raza Gilani, for refusing its orders. The court wanted Mr. Gilani to send a written request to the Swiss authorities that they reopen a corruption probe against Mr. Zardari dating from the 1990s.
Now the court is set to ask Mr. Ashraf to also write the “Swiss letter,” as the request has become known, setting up another potential confrontation.
“This letter business is not going away,” said Moeed Yusuf, South Asia adviser at the United States Institute of Peace in Washington. “The Supreme Court is obsessed with the letter, and so is the government. Everything is hostage to it.”
The drama over the letter is part of a wider power struggle between Mr. Zardari and the chief justice, Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry. The government says Chief Justice Chaudhry has dramatically expanded his judicial powers to persecute Mr. Zardari and oust his government through early elections.
Chief Justice Chaudhry insists that he is merely holding corrupt and inept politicians to account. Last week, however, his court brushed aside accusations from a billionaire businessman that he had given $3.7 million in bribes to Chief Justice Chaudhry’s son.
While the judicial soap opera has consumed the political system, and riveted the media, some now worry it could threaten the country’s brittle democracy, and even invite military intervention.
“If the Supreme Court pushes this further, and there is more instability, the fear is that a uniform will come along and say ‘All right, boys, it’s our show now. Time to go home,’ ” said Cyril Almeida, a columnist for Dawn, a Pakistani newspaper. “I personally don’t think the army has an interest in taking over. But this is Pakistan.”
This week, the military directly entered the drama when an army-run anti-narcotics agency obtained an arrest warrant on Thursday for Makhdoom Shahabuddin, Mr. Zardari’s first choice to replace Mr. Gilani as prime minister.
Mr. Zardari then turned to Mr. Ashraf, whom he swore in as prime minister at a ceremony at the president’s office, which overlooks Islamabad, late Friday. It was a contentious choice, even within Mr. Zardari’s own ranks, party officials said.
As minister for water and power between March 2008 and February 2011, Mr. Ashraf was blamed for the dilapidated and underfinanced state of the electricity grid.
As the temperatures have soared this summer, some areas have had up to 22 hours of power cutoffs. This week, rioters clashed with the police and burned properties in cities across Punjab, the country’s most populous province.
Mr. Ashraf is also battling accusations that he took kickbacks on the construction of privately financed electricity plants, known as Rental Power Projects, and used the proceeds to buy property in London. Those accusations have earned him the nickname Raja Rental.
In April, the National Accountability Bureau, which investigates corruption allegations, questioned Mr. Ashraf. He has denied the charges and called his accusers “liars.”
Although Mr. Zardari voluntarily surrendered many of his powers two years ago through a constitutional amendment, few doubt that he controls the government, with the prime minister doing his bidding.
The political crisis has stalled urgent American efforts to strike a deal over the reopening of NATO supply lines through Pakistan into Afghanistan. Officials on both sides say negotiations are stuck over Pakistani demands for an apology into a border shooting by American warplanes that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers last November.
Source: NY Times
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