Asif Zardari’s inspiring speech at UN

Whenever President Asif Ali Zardari gets a chance to speak, he speaks out his mind- and heart- and never tires of promoting the cause of global peace besides highlighting the sacrifices of Pakistani people and soldiers in the war on terror, the other main focus of his speeches being, “trade, not aid’.
However, in his speech during the 67TH UN General Assembly session, President Zardari surpassed all other leaders, especially of the Islamic world, by swimming against the tidal currents unleashed by the American priest who dared make a blasphemous movie. Presidents’ selection of words was indeed very strong and it conveyed the innermost sentiments of the Muslims throughout the world. He said, “Before I take up my speech, I want to express the strongest condemnation for the acts of incitement of hate against the faith of billions of Muslims of the world and our beloved Prophet, Mohammad (Peace Be Upon Him)”. The International community must not become silent observers and should criminalize such acts that destroy the peace of the world and endanger world security by misusing freedom of expression”.
These bold and candid utterances of Asif Ali Zardari have satisfied the people in Pakistan including those who would mistake Zardari’s party, PPP, as the party that symbolizes liberalism. For sure, it is a mistake to evaluate the President and his party leaders in this perspective. Over the years, particularly during their four-and-a-half year tenure so far, the PPP leaders have braved many challenges and difficulties.
Those who have heard Zardari’s speech and gone through its contents in detail would be left with no option other than understanding Zardari as a true patriot who can go to any extent for his countrymen as well as for his brethren-in-faith. Obviously, going to any extent like a fighter against odds is his (President Zardari’s) second nature. His inner conviction and twelve years of his unjustified and unjust imprisonment have enabled him to go to any extent for his own or his countrymen’s due rights. The President even mentioned about these trials and tribulations in his speech before the UN Assembly. Certainly, it was not meant to discuss his own person or his party’s sufferings but to explain the faulty patterns prevailing in international relationships by way of which military dictators and people equipped with the power of the gun would be given red carpet welcome and billions of dollars by some key players of international community whereas the people’s representatives would rot in jail and even executed through a sham judicial trial as was done with Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Shaheed.
President Zardari also seized the opportunity provided by the international forum to turn Pakistan’s pronounced relevance into pronounced significance by telling 193 countries of the world that the people of Pakistan have been facing enormous challenges.
Highlighting the Pakistani people’s predicament that owes to global currents, President Zardari told the General Assembly, “We have lost over seven thousand Pakistani soldiers and policemen, and over 37,000 civilians. We have lost one of our Ministers and a Governor of our most populous province of Punjab, to the mindset of extremism.
And Pakistan’s first elected woman prime minister and my wife Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto was martyred through the bullets and bombs of terrorists whose extremist actions have destroyed the human lives, torn social fabric, and devastated the economy”.