Exclusive Interview of President Zardari

sOURCE:GEO/DAILY TIMES Part 1



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After a long time, President Zardari has given an interview to a local TV channel. Interior Minister Rehman Malik said that the president’s interview has helped in clearing misunderstandings on different issues. Mr Zardari spoke on a number of issues of national and international importance ranging from relations between state institutions and ties with India, China and the US. Denying rumours about his resignation, the president said, “No one has asked for my resignation till now. I do not think anyone in Pakistan is so innocent that he will ask for my resignation. What will they do with my resignation? I have given my powers to parliament.” After the 18th Amendment, the president has been divested of all his powers and is now just a constitutional head of state, as he/she should be under a parliamentary system. He also ruled out the government writing a letter to the Swiss authorities in the NRO case because it would amount to a “trial of the dead; it will be like a trial of BB’s grave”. As far as the issue of the NATO supply route, boycotting the Bonn Conference and getting the Shamsi Airbase vacated were concerned, the president gave the credit to parliament. What was significant in the interview was Mr Zardari hinting at ‘someone’, without naming that person, who insisted that the Rawalpindi rally be held even though many others, including the president, Ms Bhutto’s children and Rehman Malik “opposed holding the rally”. He also said the Memogate issue has been given undue importance in the media. He dispelled the notion that there were any differences between the government and the military and/or the judiciary. “We are not at war with the court and we are not at war with the military. You think it is a clash, but I say it is part of an evolutionary process. This clash will evolve and then simmer down,” said Mr Zardari. Some analysts are of the view that the interview was a whitewash and the president did not say anything of importance; others view it as a good thing given that the president has not been giving many interviews to the local media.