Why Zardari Should Be President!

I agree that Zardari is a controversial personality!

Very simply.. Zardari should be President because the Pakistani public deserve Zardari as President.

Leadenwater: Thanks for confirming what we all suspected about Musharraf and his lotas - the welfare of the Pakistani people is less important than the welfare of Musharraf and his lotas.

The author has clearly no idea about the constitution of Pakistan, otherwise he would known that anyone who wants to be the president of Pakistan is required to fulfill all the conditions for being a member of a parliament first (e.g. declaring assets etc.) which AZ has not fulfilled.

Moreover, the president of Pakistan can be dismissed from service if he is mentally unstable as per the constitution of the Republic of Pakistan. Mr Zardari submitted in court, reports from two professional psychiatrists that he was mentally unstable, suffered from dementia etc. Thus, once again, he is not eligible for the seat of the president.

But I guess I understand the emotions of the author...... maybe its better to let him have it and expose him and PPP for once and all......

The man is so controversial and notorious that for the sake of goodwill of the country he should not be made president. Some neutral figure should be the head of state.
However, I guess since he is not using force to declare himself president but using majority vote he sadly deserve the post. You have to give him credit for being the smartest criminal in the history of Pakistan.

Re: # 2

leaden,

are you trying to say, "jaisa mun waisee chapair" ????

No matter how many times you try to drill into the pakistani mind that they do not have the intestinal fortitude for pains of democracy, they always come out all droopy eyed like Tahmed. No matter how many times you tell them, it is a messiah they want. they fire kalishnakovs in the air at the mere change in governance optics. Now they have both...a Democratically elected Messiah :)

Leadenwinter writes "Very simply.. Zardari should be President because the Pakistani public deserve Zardari as President."

Another magic trick by a dimwitted Army supporter. Zardari has nothing to do with "the people", he has more to do with army and US deal making. If he becomes the president his manipulative deal making which reflects the nature of Pakistan Army/US and not the people of Pakistan. In fact the choice of the Pakistan Army/US for handing over the mantle of "civilian facade" to their behind the scenes rule reveals their dirty nature and not the nature of the people of Pakistan.

Pakistani politics….

I knew that marriage of convenience between NAWAZ AND ZARDARI will collapse,and soon there will be musical chair replayed again. Zardari and Sharif, having set aside Musharraf, �have begun the far more vicious process of trying to eliminate each other, The final resolution of this conflict will only come after another general election or martial law. In the meantime, the two will try to maximise their control over the instruments and institutions of state. Sharif has his sights on the Supreme Court, which has become the only reserve bank of credibility in a nation where the Constitution has been amenable to the doctrine of necessity — in simpler words, where the judiciary has legalised events rather than law being the determinant of fact. Zardari is more audacious, seeking the supreme office in the land, that of the President, since he is surely convinced that he will not get office through a popular vote. �Zardari and Nawaz, both are not Angels but I think its better for survival of Democracy in pakistan that the most corrupt politician NAWAZ SHARIF quit Coalition. It was from the very beginning like an unholy alliance. But it was not sure that both the majority parties of the country will plunge into "power struggle" to oust each other when an opportunity arises. Nawaz Sharif and his cronies entangled Zardari several times in promises and pseudo-political agreements on the judge’s issue, at such crucial moment when the country is encircled with deep internal and external dangers. The government of PPP was working under stress from the very beginning, because of the hostile attitude of Nawaz League and lawyer’s agitations. The demand of Nawaz Sharif and his supporters was undemocratic to reinstate the judges through a dictatorial order which they term as 'Executive order'. Zardari insisted again and again that the judges would only be reinstated through the Parliament which is the supreme body and the issue would be resolved there. It is in the interests of the country and the government that the unholy alliance is now finally broken.
There is a long list of NAWAZ CRIMES AND HOW HE STOLE MONEY WHEN HE WAS PRIME MINISTER. Nawaz Sharif is widely acknowledged to be a highly incompetent person, with a mediocre I.Q. level. The brain behind him was that of his late “Abba Jee� - the mastermind and the main decision maker behind the scene. In order to consolidate and attain more power, N. Sharif attacked every individual and institutions he felt could get in the way challenge his authority. In order to get rid of the then Chief Justice Sajjad Ali Shah, who was despised by Sharif, the later created divisions among the judges to make life difficult for the Chief Justice. A group of judges refused to acknowledge Shah as the Chief Justice and things got so bad that a number of junior judges put hurdles in the way of the Chief Justice in order to make it difficult for him to carry out his duties. Eventually, Sharif ordered his thugs to attack the Supreme Court in order to prevent the Chief Justice from giving a ruling against him. The police did nothing to stop Sharif’s thugs as they attacked and entered the Supreme Court. The judges inside the building barely managed to escape. The thugs, led by Sajjad Naseem and Mushtaq Tahir, Nawaz Sharif’s political secretaries, entered the court chanting anti-Sajjad slogans and destroyed the furniture. Nawaz Sharif’s only agenda was to make money. In order to achieve this goal, he formed/changed laws and policies for his personal benefit and expanded his business empire by misusing his authority as Prime Minister. Nawaz Sharif, after meeting Osama bin Laden personally at least three times in Saudi Arabia and receiving a huge donation for reelection campaign, democratically elected government of Pakistan under Nawaz Sharif facilitated relocation of Osama bin Laden from Sudan to Afghanistan in 1996 to prove his (Sharif’s) own confides as a ‘true jehadi’ because Osama had taunted Sharif not being a ‘true jehadi’ in one of the meetings. members of the ruling party, including Prime Minister Sharif himself, had through illegal and bizarre use of power and influence obtained massive loans from some public-sector banks, leading to the banks' failure. Nawaz Sharif had a history of terrorizing professional journalists. The press faced intense repression during Shariff's second term .In June 1997, Humayun Fur, Peshawar bureau chief of the daily Mashriq, was detained under charges of "anti-state" activities and sentenced to five years in jail by a military court on 9 September 1997.On 8 May 1999, Najam Sethi, editor of the Friday Times, was arrested in Lahore and held without charge for nearly a month by Inter-Services Intelligence. The government finally charged Mr Sethi on 1 June 1999 with sedition, promoting communal enmity, condemning the creation of Pakistan and advocating the abolition of its sovereignty, and violating the Prevention of Anti-National Activities Act. Two other journalists M.A.K Lodhi of The News International and Hussain Haqqani, an opposition leader and columnist for The Friday Times and daily Jang were also arrested. Rehmat Shah Afridi, editor of The Frontier Post, was arrested in April 1999.Extra judicial killings were rampant during the regime of Nawaz Sharif. In 1993, custodial torture and custodial deaths were reported throughout the country, particularly in Sindh province where about 40 cases of deaths in custody and encounter killings of suspected criminals or political detainees were reported during January- June 1993. Mr. Nawaz Sharif always have undermined the interest of the country for his own. He is such a selfish man who can't work with others. When the country is striving for unity he is further dividing.
Lost my trust long ago. He must come to understanding- a few judges don't match the whole nation's interest. He must stop playing in the hands of outside enemies. Nawaz Sharif must not forget that his vicious comments for the former President, claiming that he wants him hanged, only reveal his own character as a human being. I wonder what would have happened if the former President had used the same language eight years ago and plotted and ordered a similar fate for Mr. Sharif? Where would Nawaz be right now? Probably hanging in some photo frames in the huge family estates he built for himself from nation’s pockets to live in forever and ever. Nawaz must remember that he was involved in hijacking of Musharraf plane and destroying lives of so many on his plane.

Although I always love Z A BHUTTO but I hate to say that Mr. Zardari is not on my favorites list. In democracy, 2/3rd majority rules. But, our current democracy was developed on a famous definition which states; "In democracy, two wolves and a goat vote to decide what to eat for lunch". Now, after getting rid of the scare-crow Musharraf and being free to play their own nature, the two wolves have returned to their old self and pounced upon each other for enjoying an exclusive feast. But, in their greedy haste they have forgotten that, "when two dogs fight for a bone, patiently observing crow is the winner. Pakistan is an unfortunate country of 160 million Muslims who have borne the agony of living in illusion of democracy since its inception. As the time passes citizens of this country continue to lose confidence in their survival as members of an independent and sovereign nation. Some even start questioning the intentions of its creators. We as a fashion start blaming our neighbors and superpowers for interference causing miseries for Pakistanis. It may be true to a great extent but every nation protects as well as enhances its own national interest for which there is no rule of mercy or lawfulness or humanity. We must look at our own character reflected through our leadership.....political or military. It is sad and shameful that our neighbors like India and china will be super powers by year 2050 but Pakistani nation is still living in stone age, religious fanatics are killing their fellow Muslims ,people are killing their daughters and giving it a honour killing name, today all over the world Pakistan is known as a country of terrorists and ignorant people, cold blooded and barbaric honor killing of five innocent women in Balochistan is another black spot on nation’s character. There is no place in a modern society for such medieval and brutal customs, all this is happening because Pakistani elite club never cared about educating people, Pakistani elite and bourgeois kept their nation in dark so they can steal nation’s wealth. Every Pakistani politicians thinks its his qualification if he goes to jail, and the problem is that even majority of these politicians are not highly educated. Democracy and feudalism cannot go together. Just like we claim that democracy and military uniform can’t go together, we need to admit that neither can democracy and feudalism. Both Nawaz Sharif and Asif Zardari are actually dictators wearing cloaks of democracy to fool the nation. The problem is Pakistani society as a whole does not know what Democracy is, this includes the media, public and politicians. Four notorious Pakistan Army generals are also responsible for damaging democracy in the country, General Zia ‘religionized’ the military to an extent that it’s motto during his time was converted to Emaan(Faith), Jihad (Holy War) and Taqva (Piousness) Fi Sabilillah (For the sake of Allah). Services book club printed thousands of volumes of Jihadi text, the whole fight in Afghanistan was fought in the name of religion. This resulted in elements of the military sympathizing with religious and Jihadi groups and turned Pakistan into a safe haven for them; they later emerged as Al-Qaeda & Taliban. He amended the constitution so that he could dismiss elected assemblies at his will, which he exercised in 1987.General Musharraf also played havoc with the constitution in place, suspending it twice, abolishing all fundamental, constitutional and human rights of a nation of 160 million. He marginalized the Balouch and Pasthun ethnicities via military operations in minor provinces. Divided the society with his newfound ‘moderate’ and ‘hardliner’ Muslim themes. Intelligence agencies unleashed illegal abduction operations which resulted in the infamous “Missing Persons� case of hundreds of people abducted by agencies and “disappeared�. Moreover, the democratically elected leaders, especially sitting Prime Ministers have been removed from the national political scene by the military covertly or overtly, during the coups or during the tenure of dictatorships. Prime Minister Liaquat Ali was shot (1953), Opposition Leader Miss Fatima Jinnah was strangled to death, (1966) Prime Minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto hanged (1979), Prime Minister Junejo removed (1987)These power hungry Generals love keeping Pakistani nation in the doldrums, these Generals never hesitated to put Pakistan in Rack and ruin. These power hungry Generals worship their foreign masters in west. Nations take great pride in their armed forces, The dream of Pakistan that was visioned by Allama Iqbal and turned into a reality by the hard work and democratic struggle of Jinnah has gone sour because of these generals. The country suffered a great loss in 1971 when its own Army surrendered in shame after committing one of the worst human right crimes in history and perpetrating the holocaust of three million people who were the citizens of Pakistan. Global media coverage of Pakistan suggests a country consisting of Generals, corrupt politicians and bearded lunatics. Pakistan needs stability, economic vibrancy, poverty alleviation, more education.
Its really amazing to observe political developments and politicians in Pakistan, it seems like Pakistani politicians does not have any agenda for the welfare of their voters. I don’t see anyone talking and discussing how to solve crisis like load shedding, clean water to all citizens, health benefits for people, education etc.. Majority of the members of national and provincial elected members are feudal, aristocrats, landlords or dynastic elected members. The grass root Pakistani are not represented in the assemblies and are not giving the rights to pass legislation to alleviate poverty, hunger, disease, illiteracy and express their views. The poor people cast their votes under pressure, financial bribes and threats. Pakistan can never be a true democratic nation, unless the illiteracy is reduced, the judiciary is clean, bureaucracy is defeated and every Pakistani from cities, rural areas develops the political acumen. On the other hand beside failed politicians and Army generals Pakistani Mullahs are great barrier to the development of true democracy in Pakistan. Elected or not elected, these politicians have not created jobs; rather for political gains they have used national wealth, PIA, Railways and other government departments. No one has developed economic and business policies, which could develop country. Pakistan needs a revolution. This is the time that we abandon 60 years old British style democratic system, which has always protected and promoted only rich, feudal, corrupt, looters, and uneducated politicians. There is no place for educators, lawyers and intellectuals in Pakistan's politics, which is a great political tragedy .














Mwaqar

Well, why not try Zardari as he comes from a majority party?

It is not about trying, it is about constructing civil institutions destroyed by the Pakistan Army, and taking advantage of this low in their image to do them as much damage as is possible so that they stay the hell out of politics in the future. Zardari is not the proper man for such a job, especially with a very weak PM. It is not kingship we are establishing but "democracy", and playing into the hands of the military is not a smart move...

BTW this tendency of the authors placing their mug shots next to their articles is a despicable and at times a nauseating experience (where it concerns Gill and Sohail). Please refrain from such practices even though I understand you all consider yourselves the epitome of artistic perfection, especially Mr Paracha

Have a nice day, haal chaal baal bacha etc
TNI Masadi

Dear masadi!
The art of practical politics is a different ball game altogather. Yes, we need institutions but a lot of ground has to be covered before we get there!

#11 you got this one right, except "damage" is the wrong word - Pakistan needs a strong military given that it has external threats. the sooner PPP rids itself of the wadera Bhutto legacy and of zardari, the better it will be for pakistan.

Tahmed sahib,

(Pakistan needs a strong military given that it has external threats.

From whom:

India. Why would it invade Pakistan?
Afghanistan. A nation whicgh exists only on paper.
China. An all weather friend.
Iran. No border disputes.

So who does Pakistan fear exactly?

Regards

I am not a Zardari fan but I believe that we need to exercise some patience and restraint at this crucial juncture. Here's the link to a piece I wrote for IPS (also posted on my Chowk blog)
PAKISTAN: Giving Democracy a Chance - http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=43742

Also see:
'Democracy, warts and all' By Saad Shafqat, http://www.dawn.com/2008/09/01/op.htm#1

'Why this fuss over Zardari?', by Farhatullah Babar
http://thenews.jang.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=133670