IN one of the most remarkable comebacks in Pakistan’s political history, Asif Ali Zardari has been elected president of Pakistan by a comfortable majority of the Electoral College comprising the two houses of Parliament and the four provincial assemblies.
Just about a year ago Zardari’s position was quite tenuous. True, he was living a secure and comfortable life in New York and the Emirates after a decade in prison, but various cases were still pending against him in Pakistan and elsewhere, including the infamous kickback case in Switzerland. One may presume that Zardari never imagined that he would be president of Pakistan within a year, or that his wife would be assassinated before that.
The great national and personal tragedy gave him an opening, which he has brilliantly exploited. The cases against him in Pakistan had been withdrawn after President Pervez Musharraf enacted the National Reconciliation Ordinance as a quid pro quo for the Pakistan Peoples Party’s pledge of support to his presidency.
One must admire Zardari for his adept balance-of-power politics since his return to Pakistan. On the one hand, he kept Musharraf guessing, lulling him into a false sense of security.
It was a rude awakening for the former president when the PPP joined forces with Nawaz Sharif to impeach him, leaving him no option other than resigning.
Zardari also kept former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif engaged as a partner in the government, agreeing with him that all the judges dismissed by Musharraf would be restored, including the chief justice. Zardari also reportedly agreed with Sharif that a noncontroversial person would be nominated for the presidency.
In contesting the presidential election, Zardari has broken his pledge to Sharif, for which he expressed his deep regrets.
Nawaz Sharif has shown remarkable restraint in confronting Zardari. In the past, he never hesitated to cross swords with those who stood in his path: Two presidents (Ghulam Ishaq Khan and Sardar Farooq Leghari), two army chiefs (Jahangir Karamat and Pervez Musharraf), a chief justice (Syed Sajjad Ali Shah) and, of course, the late Benazir Bhutto.
Sharif had decided almost immediately after Benazir’s assassination that in the interest of national unity the government at the center ought to be headed by the Pakistan Peoples Party. But I doubt it crossed his mind that Zardari would have the nerve to announce his candidature for the presidency.
Since he announced his candidature, Zardari has been bombarded with criticism and obloquy. Anti-Zardari witticisms, ribald jokes and doggerel verse have been circulating on the Internet and via SMS messages.
He has been accused of incorrigible corruption and of being America’s stooge. Doubts have been cast about his sanity. Abroad, people have written that a psychotic will have his finger on the nuclear trigger, not realizing that Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal is under the effective control of the armed forces, under elaborate safeguards. Besides, whatever his shortcomings may have been in the past, Zardari has shown remarkable resilience. Measured by his remarkable success, who can say that he is out of touch with reality?
Constructive criticism is always welcome in democracy as an integral part of competitive politics. But a stage may be reached when criticism becomes unbridled and dysfunctional, even destructive. Mudslinging by the bucketful is no recipe for solving Pakistan’s problems.
The fact is that Zardari has been elected president of Pakistan. So reviling him and calling him insane is not going to help the cause of Pakistan, especially when the country faces extremely difficult, almost insoluble economic and law and order problems. President Zardari needs all the help he can get to stop Pakistan’s slide to lawlessness, religious extremism and economic insolvency.
At the same time, the new president should realize that the politicians, the armed forces, the media and the international community will be watching him like hawks, subjecting his actions to minute scrutiny, waiting to pounce on him if he slips or wanders off the straight and narrow. He has an unexpected opportunity to redeem himself and salvage his reputation from the depths — his only and last chance.
One hopes for Pakistan’s sake and his own that he proves his many critics wrong and serves his country with honor and integrity.
