| Zardari will have to tread warily to grapple... |
| Tuesday, 09 September 2008 | |
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“I lived either in jail or in the Prime Minister’s House,” Asif Ali Zardari used to comment whenever he was visited by journalists when he was in jail few years ago; but now he has been elected as President of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan with majority votes. The presidential elections were held in quite tumultuous circumstances, as the political atmosphere is in the country is highly charged and the situation along the western border of the country is almost alarming in the wake of the recent ground assault and off and on air strikes by NATO forces. Besides this, the likely political tussle between two major political parties — the PPP and the PML-N —, the law and order situation (read suicide bombings) and the unprecedented price-hike are some of the challenges which may test the acumen of the new president. The election campaign also brought to light the future relationship that the president and the establishment will have. Zardari himself had admitted that the establishment has unleashed a barrage of attacks against him, his late wife and even his children. The Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) governments of the past had had to face the wrath of the establishment too. The PPP and the establishment had never had cordial relations and there were reports that the establishment was reluctant to accept Zardari as president and issues of his mental fitness were also raised through foreign media to weaken his position in the presidential race. The establishment, which had pitted the two major political parties in 90s, may again play its game and it will be a test case for Zardari. The establishment may pull the strings to create an atmosphere of confrontation. The government has a great many challenges including terrorism, financial crunch and the overall lawlessness in the country besides lack of good governance in Sindh, NWFP and Balochistan. To overcome all these gargantuan tasks/problems, the new president will have to strengthen the parliament by revoking imbalances between the presidency and parliament including doing away with the Seventeenth Amendment and 58(2)b as under the Constitution parliament is the supreme body. Independent judiciary and reinstatement of the deposed judges is equally important and selection of judges in the future should be made on merit to help reduce the interference of the establishment in the affairs of the parliament. The president-elect Zardari’s dream would become true if he succeeds in wooing Nawaz Sharif to rejoin the coalition and this would be the corner stone of his political reconciliation to defeat the establishment. The president-elect Zardari and his coalition partners claim that his election to the presidency will usher in a new era in country’s politics and the economy. Zardari has reiterated that he will work for the progress of Pakistan and defeat the local Taliban insurgency and ensure that the Pakistani territory is not used to launch terrorist attacks on Nato forces in Afghanistan. |
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