BOMB TARGETS SHIITE MUSLIMS AT SERVICE IN PAKISTAN

[The first hearing concerns the latest installment of a corruption-related investigation into President Zardari’s finances, which the court recently revived. The second focuses on accusations that civilian officials sought the American government’s help to stave off a possible coup by the humiliated Pakistani military after an American raid killed Osama bin Laden in May.]

By Declan Walsh

ISLAMBAD, Pakistan — An explosion ripped through a crowd of Shiite Muslims in central Pakistan on Sunday, killing at least 17 people in one of the largest such attacks in recent times in Pakistan’s most populous province.

The police said a bomb in Khanpur, a town in the southern part of the province, killed Shiite worshipers as they streamed out of a mosque after a religious ceremony. The local police chief, Sohail Zaffar Chatta, said the device appeared to have been detonated by remote control.

By early evening, 17 people had been confirmed killed and 25 wounded, with the death toll expected to rise. Television pictures from the scene showed black-clad women mourning over a body in the street while men angrily remonstrated before the cameras, beating their chests.

The victims were engaged in a ceremony commemorating the 40th day after the death anniversary of the Prophet Muhammad’s grandson Imam Hussein, a highly revered figure in Shiite Islam.

Sunni extremist groups, who view Shiites as heretics, have been implicated in a rising number of a sectarian attacks, according to human rights monitors.

“Ordinary Shias going about their daily lives are being increasingly targeted and killed,” said Ali Dayan Hasan, Pakistan director for Human Rights Watch, which is based in New York.

While sectarian bloodshed occurs throughout Pakistan, it is concentrated in Baluchistan, a sprawling northwestern province where Taliban fighters and nationalist insurgents roam. Human Rights Watch reports that more than 300 Shiites, many from the ethnic Hazara community, have been killed in Baluchistan since 2008.

In September, gunmen executed 26 Hazara pilgrims after pulling them off a bus headed for Iran. Three more pilgrims were killed later as the wounded were being taken to hospital in Quetta, the provincial capital.

Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, a militant group with historical ties to the Pakistani security establishment, claimed responsibility for Sunday’s attack. In early December, the group also took responsibility for an attack in the Afghan capital, Kabul, that killed at least 63 Shiite worshipers.

While the group has been most active in Baluchistan in the past year, its main recruiting ground has been in the same part of Punjab where Sunday’s attack occurred. The group’s leader, Malik Ishaq, is from Khanpur, the site of Sunday’s blast. He was released from jail in July 2011 and spent several months under house arrest in the area, but is currently in a Lahore jail, Mr. Chatta, the police chief, said.

Mr. Hasan of Human Rights Watch said, “Sunni militancy is becoming more strident and exploiting the fault lines within Pakistani society.”

The gruesome scenes in a quiet provincial town were graphic reminders of the extremist violence that continues to plague Pakistan as the country’s military and political leaders engage in an acrimonious struggle in the capital, Islamabad.

The army chief, Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, and President Asif Ali Zardari are on opposite sides of two controversial cases before the Supreme Court. The men met face to face on Saturday for the first time since the crisis erupted, apparently in a bid to show that their relationship had not completely collapsed.

Both sides said little about what happened, but the president’s spokesman, Farhatullah Babar, denied reports that General Kayani had demanded that the government retract its public criticism of the army leadership.

The judicial conflict is set to resume Monday when the Supreme Court again takes up the two cases troubling the civilian government, which could potentially result in its ouster.

The first hearing concerns the latest installment of a corruption-related investigation into President Zardari’s finances, which the court recently revived. The second focuses on accusations that civilian officials sought the American government’s help to stave off a possible coup by the humiliated Pakistani military after an American raid killed Osama bin Laden in May.

Mansoor Ijaz, an American businessman of Pakistani origin who made the coup accusations, has told reporters that he will return to Pakistan to give testimony on Monday.

But Mr. Babar, the presidential spokesman, said Mr. Ijaz had not yet applied for a visa. “We have no idea about whether and when he will enter Pakistan,” he said.

Waqar Gillani contributed reporting.

 @ The New York Times

IN PAKISTAN, TALKS AIM TO EASE SPLIT

[Only four days earlier, the military had warned of “potentially grievous consequences” if civilian criticism of General Kayani continued, while the government fired one of the military’s top civilian allies, a retired three-star general in the Defense Ministry.]

By Declan Walsh and Salman Masood

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Pakistan’s civilian and military leaders met Saturday for the first time since the eruption of a bitter political and legal controversy that stoked rumors of a military coup and could still topple the precariously weak civilian government.

After days of combative statements from both sides, President Asif Ali Zardari and the army chief, Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, sat face to face in the presidency building overlooking Islamabad. It was their first public interaction in more than a month and an indication that relations have not completely broken down.

Only four days earlier, the military had warned of “potentially grievous consequences” if civilian criticism of General Kayani continued, while the government fired one of the military’s top civilian allies, a retired three-star general in the Defense Ministry.

That exchange triggered frenzied speculation that Pakistan’s fifth military coup was imminent, particularly after President Zardari left on a visit to Dubai 24 hours later. By Saturday, though, tempers had visibly cooled.

“Both sides are now trying to pull back from the brink and somehow defuse the situation,” said Talat Masood, a retired general and military analyst. “They have been very rash and aggressive; now they want to give the impression that things have normalized, that they are capable of behaving in a mature way.”

General Kayani later attended a second meeting with Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani and leading members of his cabinet, as part of a Defense Coordination Committee that is supposed to oversee national security policy.

In an apparent attempt to defuse tensions, Mr. Gilani paid tribute to the military in comments at the outset of the meeting, emphasizing his support for the country’s “brave armed forces and security personnel.”

Still, his positive demeanor failed to mask evident problems. During Mr. Gilani’s opening remarks — which, uncommon for a committee meeting, were broadcast on national television — General Kayani stared at the table.

General Kayani is being pressed by hard-liners inside his own ranks to take a tougher stance with Mr. Zardari. Analysts agree that a coup looks unlikely, but add that the military could have Mr. Zardari ousted through the Supreme Court, which has been aggressively pursuing him.

The president faces two cases. The most explosive revolves around the claims of an American businessman of Pakistani origin, Mansoor Ijaz, that President Zardari’s allies sought covert United States government assistance to stave off a possible coup last May in the feverish aftermath of the American raid that killed Osama bin Laden.

The scandal, dubbed Memogate by the Pakistani media, has infuriated the military and claimed the job of Husain Haqqani, Pakistan’s former ambassador to the United States, who is now the subject of a Supreme Court investigation. Mr. Haqqani denies any wrongdoing.

The other judicial threat stems from a long-running corruption investigation into Mr. Zardari’s affairs that the Supreme Court, led by a rival, Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, has recently revived. The next hearing in that case, which the government claims is politically motivated, is scheduled for Monday.

It is perhaps no coincidence that Prime Minister Gilani has promised to forward a parliamentary vote of confidence in his government on the same day.

Amid the swirl of conflicting claims and power games, Pakistani politics is even murkier than usual. One likely outcome, touted by many analysts, is that President Zardari will be forced to call an early election sometime this year, probably before the fall.

“There’s a lot of disenchantment with this government, so if they advance the date of the elections it will release the pressure on them,” said Mr. Masood, the retired general. “If they hold them by October, it will be very helpful.”

@ The New York Times