Zardari’s ill-disposition: is there more to it than meets the eye?

A lengthy meeting of the members of the United Arab Emirates (UAE)’s royal family with President Asif Ali Zardari, who is under treatment there for a heart condition, shows that the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP)’s top leader’s health is not as bad as being portrayed in the Pakistani as well as Western media, as if he is on his way out of the Presidency ostensibly on health grounds.
The president’s meeting with the princes of the Al-Nayhan family in Abu Dhabi also lends credence to another important rumour making rounds in the power and political circles of Pakistan: the royal family of Abu Dhabi represented Pakistan at the Bonn Conference on Afghanistan and President Zardari’s presence in the emirate apart from health reasons could be for a debriefing from the royal family after the international moot.
The political circles here are abuzz with rumours that after Pakistan’s refusal to attend the conference as a reaction to NATO strikes in the country, the Al-Nayhan family was asked to represent Pakistan as part of a secret deal between the Pakistani government and international players, and President Zardari is visiting Abu Dhabi to share information relevant to Pakistan.
Sources said his meeting on Wednesday with members of the Al-Nayhan family was part of consultations after the conference about what the international community expects of the Pakistani leadership and military in the coming days. Sources said that even if any destablising move is afoot, especially from any big power, the interaction between Zardari and the princes could be part of efforts to prevent any such incident.
Meanwhile, political analysts do not expect any political change in the country in the near future as being speculated in the media, nor do they believe that Zardari’s exit could lead to any change of the PPP-led government in Pakistan, especially in the presence of a prime minister from the PPP. So they believe if any attempt is being made to bring about political changes from certain quarters in the country, it would fall short of achieving its objectives.
They said if Zardari was on his way out, he would not have left his son behind, shown by TV channels in a meeting with the prime minister and quite relaxed. The political analysts say there was hardly any plausible threat to the existing political setup before Zardari’s departure to Abu Dhabi that could scare away the president. They said the memogate scandal or National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) was not enough to terrify Zardari. After all, they argue, the memogate scandal was a case applicable to all stakeholders, including the army chief, and hence not reason enough to force the president to quit.
Sources close to the Presidency say Zardari was genuinely ill for the last few days. “But then anybody could fall sick, especially keeping in view the stressful nature of Pakistani politics,” said a senior political leader.
However, the departure of Zardari for medical treatment created such hype in the country that it has already overshadowed everything else from the memogate scandal and the NRO case to general politics in the country.