Khan: Bhutto's widower is protecting Musharraf

LONDON, England (CNN) -- Benazir Bhutto's widower is protecting Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, despite accusing him of having an indirect role in her assassination last year, a prominent politician in Pakistan has said.

Imran Khan, head of Pakistan's Movement for Justice party, told CNN's Becky Anderson in London Monday that Asif Ali Zardari, who now heads his late wife's party, is shielding Musharraf by not pushing to reinstate the country's sacked judges, including Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry.

"Sadly, he's not protecting him for some national interest but for his own corruption cases," said Khan.

Parliament's newly elected ruling coalition, headed by Zardari's Pakistan People's Party, had promised to restore the judges within 30 days of parliament's first session in March. Last month, ministers representing the coalition's junior partner -- the Pakistan Muslim League-N, led by former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif -- submitted their resignations over the matter.

Both Sharif and Khan plan to take part in this week's march to Islamabad to demand the new government deliver on its promise. Zardari and the PPP will be "swept aside" if they do not act quickly, Khan said.

"It's only a matter of time unless they decide to reinstate the judges," he added.

If the judges are reinstated, they could jeopardize both Zardari and Musharraf's political careers, Khan said. Zardari faces numerous corruption cases that could be revisited by the judges.

Musharraf, he said, could be tried for treason after admitting that he violated the constitution by imposing a six-week state of emergency last year, under which he sacked nearly all of the Supreme Court and dozens of other judges, placing them all under house arrest.

Khan's party, which lobbies for an independent judiciary in Pakistan, has been at the forefront for calling for the judges' reinstatement. They were removed from house arrest shortly after the new government took office in March.

Khan accused the new government of not acting in the interest of the Pakistani people.

"They (the Pakistani people) wanted General Musharraf out, and they wanted the chief justice, who's a real hero in Pakistan, ... reinstated along with the other judges," he said. "And what we have seen subsequently seen is a total reversal of the public mandate: Musharraf has been trying to be kept in, and the chief justice has been kept out."

Khan also criticized the U.S. president for publicly backing Musharraf. "It is moronic that here is a man who 160 million people want out and here is George Bush backing that man," he said, referring to the Pakistani president.

The main stumbling block has been how the coalition partners will restore the judges. Sharif's party believes a simple resolution followed by an executive order is enough. But Zardari's party wants a constitutional package to go along with the resolution to prevent judges from being fired again in the future.

Such a package, according to the PPP, would also address the fate of the current judges. But analysts say Zardari is concerned that if he restores the deposed judges, they could pick up corruption charges against him that were recently dropped by the current Supreme Court.

Those charges were dropped under an ordinance implemented by Musharraf under last year's emergency order, which suspended the constitution. The "National Reconciliation Ordinance" calls for the dismissal of corruption cases against those who hold public offices in Pakistan.

Zardari spent more than eight years in prison on corruption charges before he was released in 2004. Outstanding corruption charges were dismissed by a Swiss court earlier this year.

"If the judges come back by having that Musharraf act considered unlawful ... by a National Assembly resolution, the NRO constitutional safeguards also (go)," international lawyer Farooq Hassan wrote last month in Pakistan's The Nation newspaper.

Zardari has said that the initial 30-day deadline to reinstate the judges was simply a "political statement," but Sharif has taken the deadline more seriously.

The failure of the coalition government to fulfill its promise of restoring the judges within 30 days has the local media and many analysts questioning whether the coalition is fracturing.

Hundreds of Pakistani lawyers and flag-waving activists launched a cross-country march toward Islamabad on Monday to demand the restoration of the judges. Security has been beefed up in Islamabad ahead of their arrival, with police and law enforcement on alert.

Interior Ministry spokesman Rehman Malik said Tuesday the government will not stop the marchers but will prevent them from going into certain areas of Islamabad.

Khan said the march "is just the beginning" of a larger push to get the government to restore the judges. "There is no way the government will be able to resist this public movement led by the lawyers," he said.

All About Pakistan • Imran Khan • Benazir Bhutto