Pakistan court starts hearing case against amnesty

(WARNING): Article contains propaganda!

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By ZARAR KHAN, Associated Press Writer

ISLAMABAD – Pakistan's Supreme Court began hearing a case Monday against an amnesty that had protected President Asif Ali Zardari and many key allies from graft charges.

The hearing in the federal capital came as a suicide bomber struck outside a court building in the main northwest city of Peshawar, killing at least five people and wounding 49 in a fiery reminder of the threat militants pose to the weakly governed, U.S.-allied country.

The court's scrutiny of the amnesty could lead to legal challenges to the Pakistani president's rule just as the Obama administration needs stability in Islamabad to help crack down on those militants, many of whom are believed to use Pakistan as a staging ground for attacks on American troops in Afghanistan.

Court official Azhar Hussain said the 17-member bench led by Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry started hearing petitions but gave no other details.

The session came two weeks after the expiration of the amnesty, which had been granted in a U.S.-backed deal by ex-military leader Pervez Musharraf to allow Zardari's late wife, former Prime Minister Bhutto, to return from exile in 2007 and run for office safe in the knowledge she would not be dogged by corruption allegations that had forced her from office twice in the 1990s. She was killed in a suicide attack before elections won by her party, and Zardari succeeded her as party leader. He was elected president in September 2008 by federal and regional lawmakers.

Speculation over Zardari's future has escalated after he was forced to abandon an effort to get Parliament to approve the amnesty, which granted him and more than 8,000 other government bureaucrats and politicians immunity from a host of corruption and criminal charges.

Zardari, who has denied any wrongdoing, enjoys general immunity from prosecution as president, but the Supreme Court could choose to challenge his eligibility for the post if the amnesty is declared illegal.

The political upheaval comes as President Barack Obama's administration is stepping up its effort to defeat the Taliban in neighboring Afghanistan and on Pakistan's northwestern border. To have much hope of success, the U.S needs a stable Pakistani government committed to fighting militants blamed for attacks in both countries.

Pakistan's army has been carrying out a ground offensive against the Taliban in South Waziristan, a tribal region bordering Afghanistan where al-Qaida has also proliferated. The offensive has spurred a wave of retaliatory attacks throughout Pakistan, including in Peshawar, the capital of the northwest.

Monday's strike occurred outside a building housing lower level courts. Senior police official Shafiullah Khan said a suicide bomber tried to get inside the facility but blew himself up when he was stopped by a security guard and a police officer.

Thick black smoke billowed at the scene, while a car and a rickshaw were engulfed in flames, local TV footage showed. A rescue volunteer escorted a wounded man away from the site.

At least 49 people were wounded along with five killed, police official Saleem Khan said.

Security and government facilities are favorite targets of the militants. On Nov. 19, a suicide bomber killed 19 people outside a separate judicial complex in Peshawar.