Nation must salute political sagacity of Zardari

Munir Ahmad Khan

Being a man of vision, he has tackled all the challenges coming his way and fought his political rivals with such a sagacity, deep insight, broad vision and unwavering resolve so far that even his opponents are compelled to admit that he has proved himself to be the true successor of Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, Shaheed Benazir Bhutto and one of the best politicians of Pakistan. The most effective weapon through which he has conquered his political opponents during the last four years is his politics of reconciliation. Of course, I am talking about the President of Pakistan and the Co-Chairperson of the Pakistan People’s Party - Asif Ali Zardari. On September 6, 2012, Asif Ali Zardari elected and successfully completed his four years as the Head of the State. As he is going to complete his five-year constitutional term the next year as the president, it is time to evaluate his performance as the president of Pakistan, as well as the party co-chairperson. In these four years as head of the state and four and half years of PPP government, there are no scandals and corruption allegations against the President Zardari. To make it simple, we will look at his achievements, one by one on different fronts, including constitutional, parliamentary, war against terrorism, political, economic, foreign and domestic, etc. I remember when in 2007 I travelled with him from New York to Washington; he talked about the future of Pakistan. Asif Zardari was of the view that Pakistan can only progress as vibrant state if we start forgiving each other and resort to the politics of reconciliation. As General Pervez Musharraf had ruled the country before the PPP formed a coalition government after the 2008 general elections, the Constitution of Pakistan existed in a subverted form. Having assumed presidency, President Zardari willingly abdicated his authority and powers to the parliament and the prime minister of Pakistan. Every succeeding leader in Pakistan has been in pursuit of more and more authority and powers. But President Zardari should be credited for relinquishing his powers and restoring the Constitution to its original form. The 18th Amendment was made to give long-sought autonomy to the provinces and the 19th Amendment was carried out to accommodate the observations of the judiciary on the mode of appointment of judges, prescribed in the 18th Amendment and the 20th Amendment to ensure independence of the Election Commission of Pakistan and the mode of appointment of a caretaker set-up to oversee elections. Judiciary, one of the most important pillars of the state, was not only restored but also given complete independence through the constitutional amendments, brought about with the full support of the president of Pakistan. After delegation of its true powers by President Zardari, the parliament played a very active role in strengthening democracy and establishing constitutional and democratic norms in the country. Very effective and meaningful amendments were introduced to the Constitution after thorough discussions in the both houses of the parliament. Various ministries and departments were devolved to the provinces on the recommendations of the parliamentary committees. The Centre and the federating units had serious differences over the distribution of resources out of the federal divisible pool. The issue was resolved in the parliament through unanimous adoption of the 7th NFC Award, giving the provinces increased share in the federal divisible pool. One of the critical challenges the PPP-led coalition government inherited was Pakistan’s frontline role in the war against terrorism. Hundreds of thousands of Pakistanis had been displaced due to armed forces’ action against extremists and terrorists in Swat, Malakand and some other tribal areas of the country. However, due to an appropriate action on the part of the armed forces, under the supervision of the president of Pakistan, all the internally displaced persons were rehabilitated and sent back to their natives areas. President Zardari, through a series of talks with the leaders of the US and other countries, made them realized the sacrifices Pakistan has offered in the war against terrorism. President Zardari took a bold stance on Nato supplies, drone attacks and action against extremists, allegedly hiding in Waziristan. The US was forced last month to release $1.1 billion in Coalition Support Funds (CSF) Pakistan has already spent on the fight against militants. One front on which President Zardari fought very sensibly and bravely is domestic politics. His weapons were his political insight and sincere efforts for reconciliation with all political forces of the country. It was regrettable that as soon as the PPP-led coalition government was formed and Asif Ali Zardari was elected as the president, anti-democratic forces launched an unremitting campaign of character-assassination against him. The political opponents of the PPP also joined hands with such elements. A section of the media offered itself to be used against the democratically elected government, and launched a campaign against the president based on unsubstantiated allegations of mismanagement. These forces, with the help of the unscrupulous section of the media, time and again invited the so-called third force to take over the country again. Even a big media organization kept giving deadlines about the collapse of the system and the bowing out of Asif Ali Zardari as the President of Pakistan. But all these conspiracies failed and all those predictions died their own death. President Zardari not only successfully completed his four years in the presidency but also steered the lurching boat of democracy out of troubled waters. The consistent pro-democracy role of the president has proved to the people of Pakistan that he is the real friend of democracy and all those waging a campaign against him are enemies of democracy in Pakistan. It is really heartening to see an elected government completing its constitutional term, only because of political wisdom of Asif Zardari. The province of Balochistan has always been a centre of machinations of the enemies of Pakistan due to its strategic location. The successive governments also neglected this underdeveloped region of the country, creating a sense of deprivation among the people of Balochistan. However, President Zardari, soon after assuming his office, paid special attention to this province. He personally visited the Baloch leaders in their hometown, publicly offered apology in February 2008 on behalf of the whole nation for the excesses committed against the Baloch during the past regimes. He took a number of landmark initiatives towards bringing Balochistan into the mainstream and neutralizing the sense of marginalisation among the Baloch people. The Aghaz-e-Haqooq-e-Balochistan package approved by a joint sitting of Parliament in 2009 recommending 61 constitutional, administrative, economic and political reforms was a step forward. An inherited problem that has kept haunting the incumbent government throughout the past four years is electricity and gas shortage in the country. Under the special instructions of President Zardari, the government is making all-out efforts to resolve this issue at the earliest. The government has been able to add 3500-MW of electricity to the national grid during the past four years. Thirty-nine projects having a cumulative capacity of 10,211 megawatts will be completed till 2017. The president is taking personal interest in an early resolution of the issue, and it is expected that during the next five-year term of the Pakistan People’s Party government, the energy shortage would be overcome once and for all. President Zardari is committed to early completion of the Diamer-Bhasha Dam, which can generate 4,500MW of cheap hydel electricity and provide over six million acre feet of water for agriculture. He believes the project of Basha Dam is critical to overcome energy requirements and irrigation of vast aired land of country. The president is of the clear views that the project is gateway to nation’s progress and prosperity because it will bring revolution in agriculture as well as agro based industries offering tens of thousands job opportunities. This dam would be completed with or without foreign funding. Precisely for this reason, the PPP had the project approved from the ECNEC in 2009. This is the major mega project after Pakistan Steel Mill in which the cost of project is $12 billion in the last 25 years. The Steel Mill was also built by PPP government. This is a big proof and shows the seriousness of President Zardari towards energy sector. On the social welfare front, the performance of the PPP-led coalition government has been commendable. To alleviate poverty, schemes like Benazir Income Support Programme, under which more than Rs85 billion has been disbursed among four million poor families, Waseela-e-Haq initiative, the Benazir Employees Stock Option Scheme giving 12% share of the state-owned industrial enterprises and Benazir Green Tractor Scheme for small farmers, are under way. Also, the government has taken tough decisions to rectify the faults afflicting the economy. The imposition of the Reformed General Sales Tax and expanding the tax net by shifting focus on direct taxes with a view to protecting the poorer sections of society from the adverse effects of spiralling prices, represent a healthy paradigm shift in the management of the economy that could rightly be described as a pioneering initiative towards self-reliance and sustainable growth. President Zardari also issued special directives for enhancing wheat support price to give farmers their due right. By and large the past four years of Asif Zardari as the President of Pakistan were full of trials and tribulations. But he has well spent his tenure so far in taming anti-democratic forces and strengthening the civilian rule. He became the First President of Pakistan who addressed the Parliament in its full term, withdraw his powers and transferred to the parliament. Keeping in view his accomplishments, Asif Ali Zardari can be described as one of the best heads of the state the country has ever had since independence.