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ISLAMABAD: A Pakistani court on Friday summoned the interior minister over corruption charges, as the government grappled with the fallout from a court ruling scrapping an amnesty for a raft of politicians.
The defence minister has already been barred from leaving the country, as the top anti-corruption body begins implementing a Supreme Court ruling binning a decree protecting politicians, including President Asif Ali Zardari.
The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has called for travel bans on more than 250 people since the Supreme Court on Wednesday annulled a 2007 amnesty, sparking calls for Zardari to resign and rattling the US-backed government.
"The accountability court has summoned Rehman Malik... We have also reopened cases of 52 more people," said Salman Butt, deputy prosecutor general of the National Accountability Bureau in Sindh province.
A court official in Sindh, who wished to remain anonymous, said that Malik would have to appear along with two other Zardari allies on January 8.
His lawyer, Khwaja Naveed, told reporters that Malik was on bail in one case – dating back almost a decade – at the time the amnesty was passed.
"Malik is ready to appear again if summoned by the accountability court," Naveed said, also denying reports of an arrest warrant issued for Malik.
NAB officials said earlier the body had instructed the interior ministry to put the names of 253 people on the "exit control list" restricting travel.
"They include politicians, bureaucrats, ex-military officers and some diplomats... Arrest warrants issued against some are also revived and properties of accused frozen again," said NAB's media officer Naveed Sattar.
Defence Minister Ahmed Mukhtar told local television late Thursday he had been due to go on an official three-day visit to China but that his name had been put on the list restricting travel.
"It was in connection with a corruption case. But there is no corruption case against me – it is only an enquiry which is pending against me for the past 12 years. I will strongly defend myself in the court," he said.
The NAB later put out a statement denying Mukhtar was on the list, but it did not explain why he was not allowed to leave.
The amnesty – called the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) – was passed in October 2007 by then-president Pervez Musharraf, who was under pressure to hold elections and end years of military rule.
It quashed charges against a number of politicians including Zardari and his wife and ex-prime minister Benazir Bhutto – who was assassinated two months later – to allow them to stand for office.
Zardari's Pakistan People's Party (PPP) went on to win elections in 2008, restoring civilian rule, but his relations with the powerful military are strained and his public approval rating at rock-bottom.
Zardari is immune from prosecution while in office, but his eligibility for the presidency could be challenged as graft cases were pending against him when the NRO was adopted, raising questions about his suitability for the post.
Pakistan's ambassador to the United States, Husain Haqqani, voiced hope the amnesty ruling would not destabilise the country, which is under US pressure to do more to fight Islamist militants on the border with Afghanistan.
"I hope everybody will play their constitutional role and (the) country will not go down the road of coups that has been disastrous for our country in the past," Haqqani, himself implicated by Wednesday's ruling, told CNN.
Pakistan is ranked the 40th most corrupt country out of 180 monitored by global watchdog Transparency International, and many governments have fallen or been ousted by the military over accusations of graft.
Political analyst Talat Masood said the government must act swiftly to restore confidence by forcing out implicated ministers.
"If it is prolonged it's likely to affect governance, it is likely to affect the overall security situation, but if the transition is quick, these ill-effects could be reduced," he told AFP.
- AFP/so
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