Islamabad (AsiaNews) - While protests continue in favour of the judges removed by Musharraf during the state coup last November, the Pakistani government is believed to have scrapped the agreement signed with the Taliban in the North-West Frontier Province. In any case, the Arab television network Al Jazeera denies the rumour and speaks of "moments of tension" between Islamabad and Islamic leaders, claimed to have been resolved early this morning.
Rehman Malik, the prime minister's adviser on internal affairs, said yesterday that the agreement with Taliban militants - which provides for juridical autonomy for the Islamic extremists, based on sharia law in the northern part of the country - has been "scrapped, as the militants have [continued] their attacks on security forces". The reference is to the immediate halting of suicide attacks against civilians and members of the security forces posited in the text, which has never been put into effect: just yesterday, three soldiers died in a suicide attack.
These statements have been denied by the Al Jazeera correspondent in Pakistan, Kamal Hyder, who speaks of an "ultimatum given by the government to the militants", but not of a revocation of the treaty. According to Hyder, this morning "the interior ministry admitted that it was close to losing its patience, but gave the Taliban time to respect the agreements reached".
But in the meantime, unrest continues within the country. About 1,000 lawyers and pro-democracy activists met in Lahore this morning to march toward Islamabad, calling for the reinstatement of the judges expelled by president Musharraf during the state coup last November. Another 1,500 activists gathered in Multan, while 200 lawyers protested in Quetta.
The issue of the judges remains a thorn in the side of the executive branch, which had made the reinstatement of the judges a central part of its electoral campaign. But now the People's Party and the Muslim League, which make up the governing majority, are unable to reach an agreement to put this plan into effect. According to some analysts, behind the the inability to reach an agreement is the obstructionism of People's Party leader Asif Ali Zardari, who is afraid of the accusations of corruption that might be brought against him by an independent judiciary.