The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) officials will appear before the Supreme Court of Pakistan today (Thursday) over orders to arrest the prime minister and 15 other people on accusations of graft in 2010.  

Chief Justice of Pakistan, Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, ordered that all those accused of graft in power generation projects be arrested and for the chairman of the NAB to report to the court.

Coming as a populist cleric leads tens of thousands of protesters outside parliament to demand that the government resign, Tuesday's order sparked panic about an alleged judiciary-military plot to derail elections due by mid-May.

Interior Minister Rehman Malik threatened overnight to disperse the crowd unless leader Tahir-ul Qadri ends the demonstration; the largest political rally in the capital for years, but President Asif Ali Zardari later intervened to stop authorities from using force against protesters.