Asif Ali Zardari: President of Pakistan
Asif Ali Zardari, the strategist, the expert and the statesman, has finally achieved what he may not have dreamed of in his wildest of dreams. Whether we like it or not, he is now the President of Pakistan.
Mr. Zardari may have good intentions for the future but he has a dark past in his closet. While Pakistanis are well aware of nepotism and corruption in last two tenures of PPP government, its no open secret to the West as well.
Bret Stephens has his concerns:
Mr. Zardari — who earned the moniker “Mr. 10%” for allegedly demanding kickbacks during his wife’s two terms in office — has long been dogged by accusations of corruption. In 2003, a Swiss magistrate found him and Mrs. Bhutto guilty of laundering $10 million. Mr. Zardari has admitted to owning a 355-acre estate near London, despite coming from a family of relatively modest means and reporting little income at the time it was purchased. A 1998 report by the New York Times’s John Burns suggests he may have made off with as much as $1.5 billion in kickbacks. This was at a time when his wife was piously claiming to represent the interests of Pakistan’s impoverished masses and denouncing corrupt leaders who “leave the cupboard bare.”
It’s an open question whether Mr. Zardari will be more or less restrained in his behavior if he’s elected: His return to politics has meant the dropping of all charges against him and the release of millions in frozen assets. (The presidency will also confer legal immunity.) That may make him one of the few men in Pakistan to get richer this year: The economy, which grew in an unprecedented way under Mr. Musharraf, has tanked under civilian management. The Karachi stock exchange has lost about a third of its value and the currency about a fifth in recent months. Markets often have better memories than voters.
And Marvin Gaye puts it eloquently in Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology):
Oh, mercy mercy me
Oh, things ain’t what they used to be
No, no
Where did all the blue sky go?
Poison is the wind that blows
From the north, east, south, and sea
Oh, mercy mercy me
Oh, things ain’t what they used to be
No, no
Other posts by Kashif Aziz
- GEO TV Transmission blocked in Karachi? - November 17th, 2008
- American meat exporters using fradulent halal certificates - November 14th, 2008
- The case of Khanani and Kalia - November 10th, 2008
- Alcohol Exports Bring $220 Million To Pakistan - November 9th, 2008
- Open Letter of Appreciation to Government of Pakistan - November 5th, 2008
- Earthquake Strikes in Balochistan: More than 250 dead, 20,000 displaced - October 30th, 2008
- Pity the Nation - October 26th, 2008
- Lab Pay Aati Hai Dua .. Ban Kay Tamanna Meri - October 16th, 2008
- Predictions of the Century: The Fate of Sarah Palin, and Asif Ali Zardari and United States of America - October 12th, 2008
- Investors from Pakistan buying property worth millions of dollars at UAE Cityscape 2008 - October 9th, 2008
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September 9th, 2008 10:43 GMT
Asif Ali Zardari is hope of our nation this time.
May be his wisdom guide us to the right path.
September 10th, 2008 14:33 GMT
This nation has truly gone to the dogs. What an evil day it was when this corrupt to the core villain was elected to the highest office of this nation. This is the bginning of the end for Pakistan.
September 25th, 2008 08:04 GMT
iy is atragedy zardari at the helm of affairs with crnies would only bring disaster to the country the economy has shattered law and order situation has detrioted fellow countrymen needs to standup to thawrt any effort to—————————————————-
September 25th, 2008 10:44 GMT
That is exactly what our nation’s problem is. Mr. Tanveer has literally summed up 70% percent of our nation’s mentality. Knowing FULLY WELL what he did not once but TWICE (2 terms) to this country even though he wasn’t in ‘complete’ power back then, our people turn a blind eye to all that looting and terrorizing and embrace looters again and again, in hope that they would have become a better person (I don’t know why one would think so… what sufi, priest, saadu or rabbi came to him and washed him of all his sins? :S).
And the public is SO engrossed in sectarianism that they will blindly support their own, regardless if he/she is a looter, rapist, money launderer or what not. The pippliyay will always support PPP BLINDLY, even if they had kaana dajaal as their leader, just because, sindhis want a sindhi leader, muhajirs want a muhajir leader, Parha likha punjab wants a jahil punjabi leader, and the list is endless.
We have to think BIG now bigger than sects, religion, cultures etc. We need to think of our NATION as a whole, not just our ‘Sooba’. We have to choose the right person to be our leader, ignoring all bias but only following logic and common sense.
Otherwise looters, thugs like Zardari will keep coming back and one day, there won’t be anything left to plunder, (and hopefully then we’ll be able to see the last of Zardaris and Benazirs and Choudary bradraans and Altaf bhais etc).
Pakistan se ZINDA Bhag!
September 26th, 2008 12:59 GMT
I didnt see you suggesting a way out crackhead…. if these are not on our political scene then theres army. Besides someone told me that Bilawal is going to be future PM and preperations are underway!!! wow…. proly his sone after him. Last time i checked pakistan wasnt a monarchy….first Nawaz Sharif wanted to be amir-ul-momineen and act as a king and now the modern ppp wants a peice of it…..
My advice it let is roll and people cannot stop anyways so no need to burn ur blood over some mischeivious bunch who are smirking and gigglin right now….. so when it shall hit the rock bottom there shall be war for survival and pakistan may rise again if not taken over by some other country. My prays are with pakistan, a consolidated, united PAKISTAN alwayssss….. but when inhabitants of the house want to loot and plunder their own home very soon everything shall be finished except for a thing that no one wants to carry or to sell……….. in ase of pakistan and how our leaders are blabbing, lying and plundering the people would be the only ones left stranded and isolated….