Zardari as President
By Dr. Azam Khan
Kingman, AZ
Once again Pakistan's parliament and the federating units will be electing a new President on Sept.6, 2008. The significance of this day as Defense of Pakistan Day is like the Memorial Day in USA. On this day in 1965, India attacked Pakistan at the Sialkot and Lahore fronts in reaction to a small war that had been waged at Chamb and Jaurian sector in Kashmir. That day another self-appointed President - Field Marshal Ayub Khan - started his speech with Kalima 'La Ilah ha Illallah' and boasted that India will soon find out 'What nation has she challenged?' The 13-day war ended in a stalemate with both countries declaring victory. The fallout of the war was a weakening of the writ on Kashmir and resignation of Mr. Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto as foreign minister in protest to the Tashkent Declaration of1966.
That year Z.A.Bhutto organized the Pakistan Peoples Party and subsequently challenged his old boss Ayub and helped derail him from the Presidency in 1969. General Yahya Khan took over the reigns as President and Chief Martial Law Administrator, and held a fair election in 1970 which brought to the fore the Awami League of Mujib from the East and Pakistan Peoples Party of Bhutto in the West. The two parties refused to agree on any formula of co-existence and Yahya Khan, apparently listening to the concerns from Bhutto, launched the civilian genocide in East Pakistan on March 25, 1971. This resulted in another war with India in December 1971 which amputated the eastern half of Pakistan and eventually resulted in the appointment of Z.A. Bhutto as President of a diminutive Pakistan in 1972.
The story is somewhat familiar today. There has been a fair election in February. The two large political parties, viz. PPP and PML (N), have broken ranks. There has been a a great deal of trouble in the NWFP and Baluchistan and some patriotic wizards fear the separation of these federating units. Of course, Mr. Pervez Musharraf, another military general-cum-President has recently resigned in disgrace to avoid impeachment and not for the 'love of the country'. It seems that Nawaz Sharif was only waiting for Musharraf’s resignation before he could pull out from the four-party alliances. To his credit, Asif Zardari, not only apologized publicly but also explained his predicament. Disagreement over the reappointment of judges seems like a lame excuse. May be he does not want to go on record of supporting the Presidential candidate of PPP. If he was ever so respectful of the judiciary, why did his cronies and party leader ‘gundas’ attack the Supreme Court of Chief Justice Sajjad Ali Shah while he was the Prime Minister of the country?
So like Z.A. Bhutto in 1972, his son-in-law Asif Ali Zardari will soon take over as President of Pakistan on September 6, 2008. Like Bhutto, he will be facing daunting tasks. The law and order situation needs to be given the top priority. Poor people who also constitute a significant number of the PPP vote bank really suffer financially and they need to have availability of cheaper and plentiful commodities. Inflation has eaten away the savings of the middle class and the foreign exchange reserves are down to US $9 billion; an amount barely sufficient for two months of payments. There has to be political stability before an economic stability. Some compromise needs to be reached soon about the restoration of the deposed judges. The foreign policy of the country needs to be decided in the parliament and not on the basis of the whims of a few. Constitutional changes promulgated by Musharraf and PML (Q) for their benefit need to be reversed. Election pledges of expanding education and healthcare and infra structure need to be fulfilled and Pakistan needs to be respected once again among the comity of nations.
To his credit, Zardari, who was once sidelined in the party affairs by his wife, has acted responsibly ever since he took over as Co-Chairman of the PPP. When some of the party workers started chanting anti-Pakistan slogans immediately after the assassination of Benazir, he chanted pro Pakistan slogans. Zardari was instrumental in forging an alliance of four political parties - PPP, PML (N), ANP and JUI - which led to the election of a compromise candidate for premiership - an old PPP stalwart Yousaf Raza Gilani.
While others kept fighting for the restoration of 60 deposed judges, Zardari avoided a frontal conflict with President Pervez Musharraf who had the power to dissolve the parliament and delayed the process sufficiently till the latter was politically weakened. That is when he put together a masterpiece alliance of most political parties which included not only the alliance but also the independents from FATA areas and others as diverse as PPP (Sherpao), Jamait-i-Islami and members of PML (Q) and MQM. When he challenged ‘General Musharraf’ to resign or face impeachment he was roaring like a lion of Pakistan. In peaceful removal of a military dictator while General Kiani, ISI and USA Administration looked the other way, was a significant victory for Zardari and the entire Pakistani nation. It is the same alliance which will take him to victory minus Nawaz.
Nawaz Sharif, on the other hand, joined the alliance as a mistrusting and envious partner who cared more for his inflated ego and the pre-set conditions he brought to the table. This is the same person who as a chief minister of Punjab, but acting more like a Kashmiri Brahman, refused to give the protocol to the then Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. If he had firmly believed in democratic principles, the Presidents and Generals could not have dissolved so many parliaments since 1988. Just recently his number one goal was to retire General Musharraf and to take revenge from him; and his ‘modus operandi’ was the pestering demand for the restoration of the judiciary. To hell with all the other challenges the country is facing. His spokesman Ahsan Iqbal has recently asked PPP to part company with the coalition government of PML(N) in Punjab after they have finished receiving all the concessions from the former during the bye-elections which have given the latter a near-control majority in the Punjab Assembly. Time will tell that his actions will hurt the interest of Punjab as well as Pakistan.
So I believe that for the survival and betterment of Pakistan, it is time for a coalition builder and not a breaker. It is time for a feudal-turned-Dubai style salesman and not a trader-turned –capitalist nor a Saudi style monarch-without-portfolio. It is time for pragmatism and not for empty slogans and fixed positions. When you are in a partnership, you should be respectful of the wishes of others. Nawaz is behaving more like Zulfi Bhutto of the mid-seventies who refused to negotiate, in a timely manner, with the combined opposition parties. Zardari having learnt his lessons from his predecessors is treading very cautiously in handing the difficult challenges confronting the ship of the state.
I have never been impressed by the overall performance of the PPP but I am placing my trust in the leadership of Mr. Zardari as the civilian president of Pakistan for the next four years.
