ISLAMABAD: Aware that he might be assassinated, President Asif Ali Zardari had told former US ambassador Anne W Patterson that he had made provision in case he was assassinated saying that his sister, Faryal Talpur, would be named president after him.
Wikileaks memos revealed that Zardari had told the US envoy that he had requested the United Arab Emirates government to take his family in the event of his death. While far from perfect, the diplomatic documents stated that Zardari was “pro-American and anti-extremist, we believe he is our best ally in the government”.
The cables said it was clear that “Zardari runs the show, and [Prime Minister] Gilani has at times chafed at public acknowledgment of this fact”. However, the cables said the “reports of Zardari-Gilani tensions are exaggerated. Gilani knows his place and will tow Zardari’s line.”
“Although we do not believe Pakistan is a failed state”, the documents state, “we nonetheless recognise that the challenges it confronts are dire… The government is losing more and more territory everyday to foreign and domestic militant group, deteriorating law and order in turn is undermining economic recovery.
The bureaucracy is settling into third-world mediocrity, as demonstrated by some corruption and a limited capacity to implement or articulate policy.”
