Pakistan slaps travel ban on defence minister

[Adsos Letter]

Source: AFP

ISLAMABAD (AFP) – Pakistan has barred the defence minister from travelling abroad as the fallout Friday from a court ruling reviving graft cases against a raft of top politicians threatened the government's stability.

The country's top anti-corruption body has called for travel bans on more than 250 people since the Supreme Court Wednesday annulled a decree protecting politicians including President Asif Ali Zardari from old graft charges.

The court ruling has rattled the US-backed government, with the opposition demanding the swift resignation of Zardari and implicated ministers.

Defence Minister Ahmed Mukhtar told local television late Thursday he had been due to go on an official visit to China but that his name had been put on an "exit control list" restricting travel.


Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20091218/wl_asia_afp/pakistanpoliticscorruption