President will not seek reelection but fails to recognise problems in tenure
“I will not seek reelection,” President Asif Ali Zardari told media on Sunday. In his first interview after the elections, Zardari appeared ever the statesman, laying down his position, but not asserting much. With the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) no longer in the majority in the National Assembly (NA), Zardari admits that he has lost his mandate to be president of Pakistan. The PPP and Zardari himself reminded us at numerous times that he was the only president in Pakistan’s history to relinquish his powers through the 18th amendment. The last step of his term is fast approaching: he shall now vacate the seat of President. This resolves a number of issues for the new Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government, who shall have to appoint its own president soon enough.
For those looking for some more candidness for the now outgoing president, there was none forthcoming. Surely the president would say something for why the PPP lost? But the ever-elusive Zardari said nothing. Neither he nor the PPP took any responsibility for the crises that have beset Pakistan in its term of government. The lack of explanations is strange though. When asked about the Karachi violence, Zardari pointed to a “foreign hand”, forgetting that the three-ruling parties blamed each other during the continuing spate of violence. When asked about Balochistan, Zardari blamed the Baloch, forgetting that it was his PPP that stuck the agreement to appoint Aslam Raisani as chief minister and appointing all Balochistan MPAs to the cabinet. The matter appears to be a case of selective memory from the president, who maintained that he had been a victim in the NAB witch hunt which was continued by the Supreme Court to include four years of his presidential term.
On his future plans, Zardari said he would be ready to take a leadership role if the PPP offered him such and would work to re-organise it. He maintained that the reconciliation mantra that he used during the five-year PPP term would continue with the PML-N. With the PPP now fully handed over to Bilawal Bhuto Zardari after Zardari dissociated himself from the party in line with a high court verdict earlier this year, Zardari’s own future is an open question. Zardari’s wish that the PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif be elected as consensus prime minister does not appear like being fulfilled. Zardari is now the former head of the leading opposition party, where he of course still carries a certain clout. His future probably lies with the party, but if he takes too dominant a role in the PPP, it may hamper the future of the PPP as envisioned by Bilawal. Zardari faces a difficult choice for what to do after his term ends. Some clues shall be forthcoming soon.
