Pakistan’s unpopular president is coming under increasing pressure from the powerful army and political opponents to resign or relinquish most of his powers, fueling political turmoil just as the West wants the country to focus on the threat posed by al-Qaeda and the Taliban.
An amnesty protecting Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari and several of his key allies from graft prosecution expired on Saturday, raising the possibility of legal challenges to his rule and triggering calls from the major opposition party for him to step down.
Hours earlier, he relinquished command of the country’s nuclear arsenal to the prime minister. He has said he will also give up some other powers inherited from his predecessor, former military leader and president Pervez Musharraf.
The upheaval comes as the Obama administration is expected to announce this week a new strategy for defeating the Taliban in Afghanistan and on Pakistan’s western border. Any new approach will need political stability in Pakistan to have any hope of succeeding.
A military coup to oust Zardari appears unlikely, as does impeachment, since he heads the largest party in parliament. The opposition has not called anti-government street rallies, perhaps wary of pushing the country into chaos and paving the way for another stint of military rule.
Zardari, 54, is languishing in opinion polls just 15 months after taking office. He also has found himself locked in a power struggle with the powerful military.
Zardari’s office said the decision to transfer control of the National Command Authority to Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani was a step toward ceding sweeping presidential powers that had been adopted by Musharraf.
In an interview on Friday with a local television station, Zardari said he was also likely to relinquish the authority he inherited from Musharraf to dissolve parliament and appoint services chiefs by the end of this year — as the opposition and civic activists have long demanded.
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