Pakistain's Supreme Court yesterday said Interior Minister Rehman MalikPak politician, Interior Minister under the Gilani government. Malik is a former Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) intelligence officer who rose to head the FIA during Benazir Bhutto's second tenure. Malik was tossed from his FIA job in 1998 after documenting the breath-taking corruption of the Sharif family. By unhappy coincidence Nawaz Sharif became PM at just that moment and Malik moved to London one step ahead of the button men. He had to give up the interior ministry job because he held dual Brit citizenship.
, a key aide to the president, should lose his senate seat for making a false statement in election papers.
It is the second time in three months the court has ruled against Malik, a senior member of the ruling Pakistain People's Party (PPP) seen by many as
President Asif Ali Ten PercentZardari
... husband of the late Benazir Bhutto, who has been singularly lacking in curiosity about who done her in ...
's right-hand man, and the latest round in a long-running tussle between the government and the judiciary.
Some government members have accused judges of overreaching their authority and trying to bring down the coalition before it becomes the first elected administration in Pakistain's history to complete a full five-year term.
The court also disqualified four MPs -- two from the PPP -- and seven provincial assembly members yesterday for holding dual nationality. The constitution bars elected politicians from holding citizenship of any country other than Pakistain.