Pakistan government calls demands by protesters 'not possible'

Thousands of protesters near parliament say they want the dissolution of federal and provincial legislatures, the establishment of nonpartisan election commissions that can keep corrupt incumbents off the ballot, and the creation of a neutral caretaker administration that can govern until national elections are held.

“There is no space in the constitution for such things,” said Information Minister Qamar Zaman Kaira. “It’s not possible.”

But protest leader, Tahirul Qadri, a Canadian-Pakistani religious scholar, said President Asif Ali Zardari’s government must meet the demands to end large sit-in rallies that have paralyzed the capital for three days and ramped up pressure on an administration many in the country regard as inefficient and corrupt.

Qadri has kept legions of followers from leaving the venue for the sit-in — a main avenue that leads to parliament — despite nighttime temperatures that have dropped to 37 degrees. He has revved up the estimated 40,000 rally participants with daily speeches that lambaste the country’s current political leaders and lawmakers as “political thieves.”

Many analysts have speculated that Pakistan’s powerful military, which has had an acrimonious relationship with Zardari, is orchestrating the movement to keep his government from winning another five-year term in office, a charge that both the army and Qadri deny.

Analysts also worry that the protest movement may keep the country, plagued by a history of military takeovers, from seeing its first democratic handover of one civilian government to another when elections slated for May are held.

Critics of the Zardari administration received a boost Tuesday, when the Supreme Court ordered the arrest of Pakistani Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf on corruption charges in connection with a scandal dating back to his previous post as water and power minister. Ashraf denies the allegations.

Underlying Qadri’s agenda is an ardent belief that Pakistan’s two biggest parties, Zardari’s ruling Pakistan People’s Party and the opposition PML-N party run by former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, are irrevocably corrupt and cannot be allowed to continue to govern. Sharif’s PML-N party controls the government in Punjab, the country’s wealthiest and most populous province.

Qadri acknowledged that elements of his blueprint for reform are not covered by the country’s constitution. For example, the constitution requires parliament’s ruling coalition, led by the PPP, and the legislature’s top opposition party, the PML-N, to jointly appoint a caretaker administration to oversee day-to-day government operations in the two-month lead-up to elections. That set-up, Qadri argues, will help ensure both parties remain in power because they won’t implement any reforms that could threaten their chances in the May elections.

“The caretaker government should not be appointed under the collusion of the PPP and the PML-N,” Qadri said. “That set-up would never be impartial.”

Kaira, however, said imposing reforms not allowed by the current constitution would be a major step backward for Pakistan’s democracy. He said Qadri, who would be required to give up his Canadian citizenship to run for office in Pakistan, and others could seek change through the existing political system.

“If you want reforms, then register your party, give up your Canadian nationality, make yourself eligible to contest elections, go after votes and bring about change through parliament,” Kaira said.

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Special correspondent Nasir Khan in Islamabad contributed to this report.