Nawaz Sharif's ouster could trigger US sanction against Pakistan

[Ray]

Nawaz Sharif's ouster could trigger US sanction against Pakistan: Report

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's ouster through illegal means could trigger another round of democracy-related US sanctions against Pakistan, according to a report.

A congressional reported titled 'Pakistan Political Unrest' warns that "any overt military ouster" of Sharif "could trigger another round of democracy-related US sanctions on foreign assistance to Pakistan", the Dawn said on Wednesday.

This could put "an indefinite halt to what has been one of the highest-priority American aid programmes since 9/11."

The report also warns that the ongoing political crisis could impact Pakistan's relations with India by increasing the powerful army's influence in foreign policies, the paper said.

The "Army's more openly direct control of Pakistan's foreign and security policies may, over time, shift Pakistan's approach towards Afghanistan further into a policy framework that seeks to counter Indian influence there," warns the report prepared by the Congressional Research Service (CRS).

READ ALSO: Army chief meets Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif

The report notes that while the Sharif government does not face an imminent ouster, "many observers see the current unrest weakening Sharif".

It also represents "a setback to democratisation in a country that has suffered three outright military coups in its 67 years of independence".

The report informs US lawmakers that despite the protest, Pakistan is unlikely to change its foreign or security policies that are of interest to the United States.

The unrest could "present new challenges to the goal of improving India-Pakistan relations, and put a damper on hopes for effective regional cooperation and commerce in South Asia," said author Alan Kronstadt, CRS specialist in South Asian affairs.

"Whether Sharif sought out or merely acceded to the army's late August intervention as a facilitator between the government and the protesters, most analysts contend that because he has not demonstrated civilian control over domestic security he will be left in a weakened state," the report says.

READ ALSO: How Pakistan's Nawaz Sharif stumbled into protests crisis

CRS warns that the army's involvement could have negative implications for US efforts to strengthen Pakistan's democratic governance institutions as well.

"Observers doubt, however, that the army would seek to take direct control of the government, not least as it is embroiled in offensive operations against Islamist militants in western tribal areas," the report says. The army, however, might welcome "a soft coup in which popular support for the civilian government is reduced such that the army can take full control of foreign and security policies".

The report came in the wake of nearly a month-long protest by Tehreek-i-Insaf chief Imran Khan and Awami Tehreek head Tahir-ul Qadri demanding Sharif's ouster.

Khan wants Sharif's ouster over alleged rigging in last year's poll which his party lost, while Qadri wants to bring a revolution in the country.

Both the leaders are agitating since August 14. At least three people have been killed and over 550 injured during the protests.

Nawaz Sharif's ouster could trigger US sanction against Pakistan: Report - The Times of India

One of the masters of puppet Pakistan has moved the strings.

Imran and Qadri and the Army will now dance.

Cash strapped Pakistan has no hope now to oust anyone.

 

[Ray]

Exhausted and frustrated, Pakistani protesters want to go home

Arshad Shah, a Pakistani protester, feels trapped: worn out after weeks of street demonstrations against the government, he wants to go home but protest organizers will not let him.

Like many other protesters led by cleric Tahir ul-Qadri, Shah said organizers had taken away his national identification card to prevent him from leaving the protest site outside government offices in the center of the Pakistani capital.

"Some (organizers) will make up excuses for why they can't return out cards yet, others will just say directly that we can't leave until the sit-in is over," said Shah who joined the rallies from the central Pakistani city of Sargodha.

"I just want our cards back so we can leave."

Others said they were instructed to turn in their cards on a daily basis, get paid to spend the day at the rally and claim the card back at the end of the day.

"I come in the morning and submit my CNIC (Computerised National Identity Card) to Qadri's people who then give us our daily wages of 300-400 rupees ($3-$4). We then sit around here all day," said Niaz Ahmed, a daily wage labourer.

"After Dr Qadri makes his speech in the evening, we get our ID cards back and off we go. The next day we come back again. I'm making almost the same money sitting around here all day as I did working hard all day."Anti-government demonstrations erupted in Pakistan last month, with protest organizers saying their supporters will not leave until Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif resigns - a month-long standoff which has destabilized the South sian nation.

Several attempts by Sharif's aides to find a negotiated solution have failed, with protest organizers refusing to back down from their demand for his resignation.

The confrontation briefly turned violent at the end of last month, with thousands trying to storm Sharif's house.

But since then, the protests have dragged on listlessly, with weary protesters huddling inside their tents or sleeping on the grass verges of the capital's grandest avenues.

SORRY STATE

Qadri's camp categorically denied allegations that it was paying its activists or taking their identity cards away.

"Dr Qadri has openly allowed people to leave if they have to. He announced this in public as well," said Shahid Mursaleen, a spokesman for Qadri's party.

"I strongly reject this accusation. This is untrue and those who are saying this are probably not Dr Qadri's protesters."

Qadri's activists have rallied alongside protesters led by another opposition politician, former cricket hero Imran Khan.

Unlike Khan's supporters who tend to gather in the evening, Qadri's protesters are camped out outside government offices all day, sleeping and sheltering from the scorching sun or monsoon downpours in tents.

The protest site, within walking distance of many embassies and ministries, is in a sorry state, littered with rubbish, with the stench of human waste hanging in the air.

On the edge of the protest site, men line up every day near a burst pipe and take showers one by one. Women complain that they have hardly showered more than a few times in the last month. Some fear an outbreak of mosquito-borne dengue fever among the protesters.

"The disease can rapidly spread," said Dengue Expert Committee Chairman Javed Akram. "There is no proper sewerage facility in the area. The vulnerability of the sit-in participants has increased because of the unavailability of a waste management system."

At least three women protesters, all of them domestic workers, said they had been paid to come to the rallies when they were first launched. One of them, with three children under the age of six, said mothers were paid 2,500 rupees ($25) more.

"You got paid more if you have a child," said Rukhsana Bibi, one of the women. "They wanted more women with children to join the rallies so the pay for that was higher."

Exhausted and frustrated, Pakistani protesters want to go home | Reuters

This is indicative how crooked and corrupt Pakistan is.

Imran and Qadri are proving that a 'rent a mob' and 'coerce a mob' is how they show what 'Pakistanis yearn for democracy'.

They are rigging the demonstration while they claim Sharif rigged the elections.

Pay the mob and take was their National Identity Card and they are your hostage!

In fact, the very concept and birth of Pakistan is a rigged affair!

 

[Neo]

The only puppet here is the corrupt politician who will dance to US' tones. Army no longer trusts America and wants to get rid of the little dependence of USaid in the longer run.

America never favored strong leadership in Pakistan and will do.everything to prevent IK to get in power.

 

[ladder]

The only puppet here is the corrupt politician who will dance to US' tones. Army no longer trusts America and wants to get rid of the little dependence of USaid in the longer run.

America never favored strong leadership in Pakistan and will do.everything to prevent IK to get in power.

$370 MILLION Coalition support fund is too difficult for even Army to reject. Else how the Musharrafs would own the farm houses?

 

[Blackwater]

Scared of sanction Gazi army is scared to intervene in pak politics today.

 

[Ray]

The only puppet here is the corrupt politician who will dance to US' tones. Army no longer trusts America and wants to get rid of the little dependence of USaid in the longer run.

America never favored strong leadership in Pakistan and will do.everything to prevent IK to get in power.

Why blame anyone.

Pakistan has made it a business to dance to the US tune and also now, the Chinese tune.

US would have favoured a strong leadership, provided they could find one.

They only found all adherents of political Islam - craving for power and none a true Muslim and a follower of genuine spiritual Islam.

 

[Compersion]

China Secretly Sold Saudi Arabia DF-21 Missiles With CIA Approval | The Diplomat

Threat of sanctions seem to have different variables for Pakistan and Saudi Arabia even when they are working together and have the same nuclear deterrent.