Sharif warns Pakistan is sliding into a crisis

Former Pakistan prime minister Nawaz Sharif today warned that the country was moving towards a state of political crisis.

Mr Sharif defied a government ban on protests and held a massive rally in Abbottabad where he urged people to come forward and save the country from further turmoil.

He said: “This is the time to come on the streets and join the protesting lawyers tomorrow. Don’t come for me, come for your country.”

Mr Sharif has lent his support to the Long March rally planned by anti-government lawyers. It will begin tomorrow from the major cities of Pakistan and will end in Islamabad on March 16.

They are demanding the reinstatement of former chief justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Chaudhry. He was dismissed by former president Pervez Musharraf in 2007.

The protest has come at a time when the country’s two main political parties are at loggerheads over a Supreme Court ruling last month that banned Mr Sharif and his brother Shahbaz Sharif from contesting elections.

Mr Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) party has decided to stage a country-wide protest against the court ruling. The protest will pose a major problem for the government led by President Asif Ali Zardari’s Pakistan People’s Party (PPP).

Pressing ahead with the protest today Mr Sharif said: “How can I stay back when a judicial system is not in place? The state apparatus is not working and the challenges on our borders are too many.”

“We are very happy with Musharraf’s exit, but nothing has changed since then.”

The government has responded to the protest by placing many opposition leaders under house arrest including PML-N’s chairman Raza Zaffer-ul-Haq. Reports also suggest that politician and former cricketer Imran Khan has been placed under house arrest.

Siddiq-ul-Farooq, a spokesperson for Mr Sharif’s party, said scores of their workers had been detained across Punjab. “We will remain peaceful and will peacefully defy the ban on the Long March,” he said.

Meanwhile, Pakistan’s army chief General Ashfaq Kayani met prime minister Yusuf Raza Gilani to discuss the situation. However, no details of the meeting were revealed.

As Pakistan heads towards political uncertainty, President Zardari continues with his two-day visit to Iran.

Undisturbed by the recent developments in his country, he said at a regional economic conference in Tehran: “We should unite and speak with one voice and may be we will be heard a little louder.”

Earlier, the Pakistani media warned that the country might be heading for another military rule.

Pakistan’s The Daily Times editorial stated: “Now that the two mainstream parties have virtually declared the doors of reconciliation shut, commentators are already talking of the possibility of the army stepping in ’to bring the country back to normal’.

“We sincerely hope this doesn’t happen. The army is incapable of providing any political solutions as we have learnt from our bitter experience time and again. But if this does come to pass, this time too the politicians would be to blame.”

Meanwhile, Pakistani newspaper Dawn’s editorial said: “Hurtling as this country is towards the brink of political chaos, there is still time for the politicians to slam on the brakes and reverse course.

“If not stopped immediately, the chain of events triggered by the ouster of the Sharif brothers from electoral politics and the imposition of governor’s rule in Punjab will surely end in tears for everyone involved.”