Daily Times Editorial June 4, 2013

President Zardari’s interview In a wide-ranging interview to a panel of journalists on television, President Asif Ali Zardari explicated his views on a whole host of issues that confront him, the PPP, and the country. First and foremost the president revealed that he had no intention of standing again for the office once his term expires in September this year. His argument was that unlike 2008, the PPP did not have the mandate, and therefore the right, to have its candidate elected president. He went on to say in answer to a question that after leaving the presidency, he would be bound by the party’s decision whether it wanted him to lead the PPP, otherwise he would be content to work as a common member. The president credited all the political forces, not just the main opposition PML-N, with the strengthening of democracy over the last five years and a smooth transition. The PPP, the president underlined, would play the role of a constructive opposition rather than opposition for opposition’s sake, in contrast to what is commonly being pitched that it is the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf that will be the real PML-N government’s opposition. Further, President Zardari said if Nawaz Sharif wanted to be elected prime minister unanimously as the PPP’s Yousaf Raza Gilani was in 2008, he would have to approach all the political parties (implying the president would have no role in facilitating this outcome). About Nawaz Sharif’s offer of dialogue to the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), the president said it would have to be seen whether the TTP had a political mindset, with which negotiations may be possible, rather than just an extremist outlook that precluded a political dialogue. The National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) and Swiss cases were dismissed by Mr Zardari as controversial and without substance. It may be recalled that the NRO was struck down by the Supreme Court as discriminatory and the Swiss legal authorities responded to the request (finally) of the PPP government for assistance in the Swiss cases by saying they could not be reopened. On Balochistan, the president tried to justify the PPP government’s track record by arguing that they had done a lot for the Baloch, but the Baloch had not come forward or done enough for themselves. The legitimate question to be asked in this context would have been whether, in the face of the military’s ‘kill and dump’ policy in the province, the Baloch were in a position to do anything for themselves except resist oppression. On drone strikes Mr Zardari said he did not know if Musharraf had any agreement with the US on allowing the strikes on Pakistani territory. However, the previous PPP government never had any such agreement with Washington. In answer to a query that reflected Imran Khan’s adventurist suggestion that if the incoming government could not persuade the US to stop the drone strikes, the drones should be shot down, President Zardari said drones are not just birds you can shoot out of the sky, and even if you did, then what? The repercussions have to be thought through soberly. On Musharraf’s fate, the president left it up to Prime Minister-in-waiting Nawaz Sharif to decide whether to pursue his cases or not. If Musharraf’s family asked him to pardon the ex-army chief, the president emphasised, he would consider it. Reports in the press speak of Musharraf travelling to Dubai to visit his sick mother, perhaps the first sign that the powers that be have decided to let Musharraf go and close this potentially incendiary chapter. In cryptic terms, President Zardari ascribed the troubles in Karachi to non-state actors, without detailing who these were, what their political affiliations if any were, and what could be done about restoring peace to the city by the sea. The PPP-led coalition government in Sindh under the same Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah badly failed to control the violence and bloodletting, terrorism and crime in the city. It remains to be seen if the second time round the chief minister can do better, scepticism rising since the MQM so far has decided to sit in the opposition. President Zardari has tried to put a brave face on the adverse circumstances facing him and his party after its debacle in the elections. However, the interview in question failed to convince even non-partisan watchers of the president’s wisdom or insights into national affairs. It was a sorry comedown from the claim throughout the last five years that the president’s ‘street smart’ tactics had nullified all opposition and allowed the PPP government to survive. Clearly, as the elections showed, you can only achieve so much with ‘street smart’ tactics and no more. For the rest, you have to deliver.