Pak’s Political Rift May Pose Test For Obama

NEW YORK: The intensifying political battle between the president and the main opposition leader is shaping up as a potential crisis for the Obama administration. The US tries to focus the government on fighting the Qaeda and Taliban insurgency here, New York Times commented on the political situation in Pakistan.

The domestic struggle will almost certainly deflect attention from that fight as President Asif Ali Zardari and his rival, former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, duke it out and as street protests persist, politicians and analysts said.

It could also result in shifting political alliances, including new opportunities for the religious right that would be inimical to Washington’s interests, and even serve to make the Pakistani military restive for power again if the situation continued to worsen, they said.

The Obama administration, which this week hosted the Pakistani foreign minister, Shah Mehmood Qureshi, and the military chief, Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, in Washington, has had little to say about the unfolding political drama.

“Washington was certainly surprised by the court move and very concerned, both in political and military circles,” said director of the South Asia Center at the Atlantic Council.

The United States has backed Mr. Zardari as president. But his reputation in Washington would be likely to suffer as a consequence of the moves against the Sharif brothers, said an analyst.

“He is deflecting the attention of the whole country to something that is so irrelevant.” “He is banking on the United States, but America will only support him up to a point.”

General Kayani has vowed to keep the army out of politics, and was serious about his pledge, Pakistani officials said. But there could come a point where political instability became so great, the army would feel to be compelled to step in, they said.

The size of the crowd during the lawyers’ protest from Lahore to Islamabad, and the composition of the march could be a defining moment in the contest between Mr. Zardari and the Sharif forces, citing politicians, the US daily said in its report.

Source: www.nhatky.in