Immune defenses
Pakistani Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani appeared before the country's Supreme Court on Thursday, and respectfully refused to ask Swiss courts to reopen a corruption case against President Asif Ali Zardari, on the grounds that the president "has complete immunity inside and outside the country" (Guardian, AP, WSJ, Post, Tel, ET, NYT). The court gave Gilani's attorney another two weeks to prepare an argument for the president's immunity, as well as a case against the prime minister's contempt-of-court charges. If Gilani were to be found guilty of the charge, he could be forced to resign.
Former Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf has reportedly delayed his return home after coming under intense pressure to do so from friends and members of his party, the All Pakistan Muslim League (APML), as Interior Minister Rehman Malik reiterated to the Senate that Musharraf would be arrested immediately upon his return to Pakistan as "a proclaimed offender in the Benazir Bhutto murder case" (ET, ET, AFP, Reuters, Tel,CNN, Tel).
A senior Pakistani security official told Reuters Thursday that Pakistan does plan to re-open NATO supply routes through the country, but will impose tariffs on the goods with the intention of both expressing anger for the November 26 NATO airstrike on two Pakistani border posts, and raising money for the government's fight against militancy (Reuters). A security official also told the news outlet Thursday that the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) had rejected the government's demand that it negotiate through tribal elders for the group to lay down their arms as "humiliating" (Reuters). The TTP on Wednesday claimed responsibility for the murder of journalist Mukarram Khan Atif at a mosque in Pakistan's tribal areas, and issued a warning that "all reporters of Voice of America are our targets" (NYT, Dawn). And three police officers were injured Thursday by a suicide attack on a check post in Nowshera in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province (ET).
Peace potential
Taliban field commanders in multiple Afghan provinces have reportedly expressed their support for peace talks with the United States, but warned that not all militants will necessarily feel the same way (WSJ). And European Union officials say that President Obama could miss a fleeting opportunity for a peace deal if he continues to stall on releasing Taliban prisoners from the U.S. military prison at Guantánamo (Guardian).
Thirteen people were killed Wednesday by a suicide bomber on a motorcycle at a crowded market in Helmand Province, while a second suicide attack Thursday morning near the entrance of the NATO airport in Kandahar left six civilians dead (Post, CNN,NYT, BBC, AJE, AFP, AP). Meanwhile, the death toll from avalanches in northeastern Afghanistan rose to at least 28 on Thursday (AFP, AP).
Two British soldiers were arrested Wednesday over allegations that they sexually abused two Afghan children, prompting Afghan President Hamid Karzai to release a statement saying he is "immensely disgusted by the rise in recent incidents of immoral nature among foreign soldiers" (Tel, AP, BBC, Reuters, AJE, NYT). The allegations come just a week after a video surfaced purporting to show U.S. Marines urinating on the dead bodies of Afghan militants.
The Guardian has a must-read on the thriving business of Afghanistan's forgers, as more and more Afghans are seeking fake passports, statements of employment, and supposed Taliban death threats in the hopes of being granted asylum in Europe or the United States (Guardian).
A revealing development
Media outlets are abuzz with news of a scandalous video in which the Pakistani-American businessman at the center of Pakistan's "Memogate" crisis, Mansoor Ijaz, makes as appearance (AP). In a twist some analysts say will hurt Ijaz's credibility in the eyes of the Supreme Court, he appears to play a ringside commentator in a music video featuring a wrestling match between two scantily clad women.
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