Why Pakistan’s Prime Minister Is Still Free

Pakistan's Supreme Court last month ordered the arrest of Prime
Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf within 24 hours on allegations of his
involvement in corruption involving power-generation equipment.

But three weeks later Mr. Ashraf remains in office as Pakistan heads
toward general elections due by May.The arrest order was widely seen
as the latest round of a five-year-long battle for power between the
court, which plays an activist role in local politics, and the
Pakistan People's Party-led government.

So what gives?

A major reason the arrest has not been carried out is the National
Accountability Bureau, a state body charged with investigating
corruption and carrying out arrests, has refused to play ball with the
Supreme Court.

On Jan. 17, two days after the court issued the arrest order for Mr.
Ashraf and 15 others, Fasih Bokhari, NAB's chairman, told the court he
could not make the arrests as the bureau had not yet built a solid
case.

Mr. Bokhari told Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry that NAB
needed more time to investigate allegations Mr. Ashraf accepted bribes
for approving power generation projects in 2010 during his tenure as
power minister. The court had ordered NAB to investigate the matter in
2010. Attempts to reach Mr. Ashraf were unsuccessful but he has
previously denied any wrongdoing.

Relations between NAB and the court have deteriorated since then.

A day later, on Jan. 18, a NAB investigator involved in investigating
Mr. Ashraf and the others was found dead in his apartment in
Islamabad, the capital. Police are investigating the cause of the
death. Mr. Bokhari said he was suspending NAB's probe until police
carried out its investigation of the death.

Then, at the end of January, Mr. Bokhari wrote Pakistan President Asif
Ali Zardari to complain about continued pressure from the Supreme
Court to push ahead with the graft probe – pressure which he said
constituted an infringement of NAB's independence. Mr. Zardari
appointed Mr. Bokhari, a retired navy admiral, to his post in 2011.

In turn, Mr. Chaudhury issued a contempt of court order against Mr.
Bokhari. The NAB chairman is due in court Tuesday to answer this
charge.

NAB's refusal to arrest Mr. Ashraf shows the three-way power struggle
that has gripped Pakistan in recent years. On one side is the court,
which played a front-line role in the ouster in 2008 of former
military-backed President Pervez Musharraf, and has played an
increasingly activist part in politics since then.

The court scored a hit last summer when it forced out Mr. Ashraf's
predecessor as prime minister over his refusal to launch a graft
probe into Mr. Zardari.

But the court has been unable to unseat Mr. Zardari, who is close to
becoming the first democratically-elected leader in Pakistan's 66-year
history as an independent nation to complete a full five-year term.

Pakistan's military, the third player in Pakistan's political
landscape, has not stepped in to take over power, despite repeated
rumors of a coup. It remains powerful, setting domestic security and
foreign policy.

Mr. Chaudhury, in the past, has defended the court's actions, saying
it is trying to stamp out graft in politics. A Supreme Court spokesman
declined to comment on the current struggle with NAB or the order to
arrest the prime minister.

Pakistan's government, which has filed a petition to the court to
review its January arrest order, has regularly claimed the court is
overstepping the bounds of its authority.

A member of the prime minister's legal counsel, Faisal Chaudhry, said
there is insufficient evidence against Mr. Ashraf. He claimed the
Supreme Court is playing the role of a political party.

A spokesman for NAB, Zafar Iqbal, said the bureau should to left alone
to do its work. "The chairman acts in accordance with the law of the
land not under the influence of who is who nor who is who's friend,"
Mr. Iqbal said.

He acknowledged the investigations into the alleged corruption has
been slow because NAB lacks adequate personnel to push ahead. "It is
likely that the Supreme Court is unaware of how understaffed NAB is,"
he added.

The Supreme Court has set Feb. 18 as the next hearing into its arrest
order, when it will summon NAB officials and police involved in the
probe of the death of the bureau's investigator.

WSJ