Pakistan’s President Zardari Returns Home to Face Supreme Court
This article is for subscribers only.
President Asif Ali Zardari returned to Pakistan as the Supreme Court opened hearings to determine whether he asked the U.S. in May to intervene against a possible army coup, an account that has widened a rift between civilian and military leaders.
The court’s probe into a memo seeking U.S. help was requested by opposition leader Nawaz Sharif and has been backed by army chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani. It threatens Zardari’s tenure as he struggles to revive an economy hampered by the country’s worst-ever energy shortages and by militant violence, said analysts including Imtiaz Gul, chairman of the Islamabad-based Center for Research and Security.