When “Capital Talk” was banned by President Pervez Musharraf, Mir went to the capital’s streets to run it for crowds of people gathering there to express their opinions. It was, in part, to his merit that Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) of the late Mrs. Benazir Bhutto had won the parliamentary elections and, after her assassination, the widower Asif Ali Zardari could successfully lead the PPP, push President Musharraf to resign and become the next President of Pakistan. Today (on Monday, September 15, 2008) the best selling Polish weekly magazine WPROST (read “vprost” which means: “direct”) published Hamid Mir’s story of Zardari, that they obtained through my own David’s Media Agency. I think, this story written by a prominent Pakistani journalist is worth publishing on the CFP in an extended and updated English version. - David Dastych
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan- Asif Ali Zardari finally entered the President House of Islamabad in the afternoon of September 8th under the shadow of the Holy Quran. A woman MP of his party (PPP), Rukhsama Bangash, was holding the holy book of the Muslims over his head when he walked into the most powerful state office. Following an old religious tradition, Zardari sacrificed some black goats immediately on his arrival to the President’s seat. It’s true that he is leading the biggest liberal and moderate party of Pakistan but he has also strong religious feelings, like his late wife Benazir Bhutto. He thinks that he can change Pakistan according to the vision of his late wife, but only with the help of Allah (God).
Zardari is the most powerful civilian President in the history of Pakistan, but he is also facing the “mother of all challenges” in Pakistan today. The two major challenges are the growing Islamist militancy and the rapidly deteriorating economy of the country. Pakistani people expect a lot from him, maybe even too much. Some analysts are saying that this Presidency is the last chance for Pakistan. If Zardari fails to save Pakistan from the growing wave of suicide bombings (unknown there before 9/11) and the crumbling economy, then there is going to erupt a bloody civil in Pakistan within just a few years. That’s why Asif Ali Zardari is very much aware he is now riding on a lion’s back and the real scope of his choices is very narrow.
Benazir’s secret plan found by her daughter
In a rare interview, granted to me on the eve of her father becoming the next President of Pakistan, the politically active 18-year-old Miss Bakhtawar Bhutto revealed the existence of a secret political plan her mother had written a few days before her assassination. Benazir Bhutto wrote that political plan, in her own handwriting, which her daughter accidentally found in a purse after her death. “Removal of Musharraf was the first point in the plan. There are many more,” she said. Bakhtawar said her father is determined to implement all the points.
She told me her mother had lost half of her trust in Musharraf after the bomb blasts on her rally on Oct 18, 2007 in Karachi. The rest of the trust was lost after the imposition of the state of emergency in Pakistan on Nov 3, 2007. Benazir Bhutto was sure that Pervez Musharraf could not contribute to resolving the ongoing problems of Pakistan, Bakhtawar added: “My mother was in fact of the view that Musharraf was part of the problem and had to be removed.”
The daughter told me the history of Pakistan could have been different today if Benazir Bhutto had listened to Asif Ali Zardari exactly one year ago in Dubai. Her father tried his best to stop her mother from going back to Pakistan because he never wanted to lose her. In one of the conversations in September 2007 in Dubai, Zardari begged Benazir to delay her return to Pakistan just for the sake of her children, who could not afford to lose their mother. But Benazir Bhutto was determined to come back at any cost. Young Bakhtawar was a witness to one of these dramatic conversations of her parents. She confirmed to me: “Yes, my father begged my mother many times that she should not return to Pakistan. My father was sure that enemies of the PPP would definitely target my mother, but my mother never listened to him because she had already spent almost 10 years in exile and she wanted to come back before the elections. She had a debate with our father but she won it with strong arguments.”
Bakhtawar is sharp and intelligent like her mother. She was born in 1990 when her mother was the Prime Minister of Pakistan. Now she is learning politics from her father, who became the new President of Pakistan. She was staying with her father these days and she was witnessing the whole political exercise for the elections of new President. She was lucky as well as unlucky, because her family has already paid a very heavy price for that kind of politics. In 1990, she was only a few months old when her father was arrested. He was released in 1992 and arrested again in 1996 to be released only in 2005. Bilawal (the only son) and two daughters, Bakhtawar and Assefa, spent their childhood without their father and they finally lost their mother on Dec 27, 2007. After the presidential election, she will go with her father to Scotland, where she will get admission to the University of Edinburgh for completing her studies begun in Dubai. During his private visit to Britain, President Zardari will also meet the British Prime Minister, Gordon Brown.
At the time of our interview, Bakhtawar was waiting for the oath-taking ceremony of her father as the President of Pakistan. She thinks that the oath-taking of her father as the President will not mean only a “face lifting” but it will be a real beginning for the change of the whole political system of the country.
The Bakhtawar’s story of a political plan on a piece of paper written by Benazir was also confirmed by Asif Ali Zardari. “Bakhtawar had found a paper in the purse of her mother, and it was clearly written on the paper that removal of Musharraf would be the top priority of the PPP after coming into power and we have implemented the plan of Benazir by removing Musharraf,” claimed Zardari. Bakhtawar was also aware that a big test for her father will start after becoming the president of Pakistan. She said: “There are big challenges and big problems, I am sure my father will try to raise new hopes in the hearts and minds of my generation for a better and prosperous Pakistan.”
Numerology and politics
Asif Ali Zardari believes in numerology, the knowledge of relationships between numbers and human beings. He decided to take oath on 9/9 because he thought that number 9 was very important in the life of his late wife Benazir Bhutto. They married on December 18th, 1987. In numerology 18 is 1+8=9. Benazir Bhutto came back to Pakistan after 9 years of exile on October 18th 2007. It was again 1+8=9. Benazir Bhutto was assassinated on December 27th 2007.In numerology 27 is 2+7=9. The People’s Party. led by Asif Ali Zardari won the majority of the votes in the elections on February 18th 2008. It was again 1+8=9. Pervez Musharraf resigned from the office of President on August 18th 2008 (1+8=9) and he created a situation in which Zardari decided to jump into the Presidency. Now Zardari took the oath on September 9th and he is sure that he will be able to meet all the challenges faced by Pakistan after 9/11.
Zardari cannot run Pakistan just with the help of numerology. He needs political wisdom and statesmanship. The new President knows only too well that he is both a very controversial politician and man and he cannot afford to commit blunders. His blunders could destroy his party (PPP) as well as Pakistan as a country. That’s why he is trying to introduce the concept of "National Unity Government" in Pakistan. On Monday, after becoming President, he requested former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to help him in combating terrorism, resolving the Kashmir dispute and stabilizing the economy. Nawaz Sharif is leading the second biggest party in the Parliament (NML-N). Zardari cannot make any changes in the Constitution without his help. Both of them were enemies of each other many years ago but now they cannot afford enmity. In the last election campaign, Nawaz Sharif promised to release Dr. A Q Khan should he would come into power. Zardari has convinced Nawaz Sharif not to discuss anything about Dr..Khan because Pakistan has other big challenges to deal with.
A not-written book
Knowing of my first book about her late father, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto eleven years ago, Benazir Bhutto asked me to write a book about the sufferings of her husband Asif Ali Zardari. Benazir Bhutto was the opposition leader at that time and Nawaz Sharif was Prime Minister. Asif Ali Zardari was a member of the Senate, but he had been in prison since November 1996 when the Benazir government was dismissed by President Farooq Leghari with the support of the Pakistan Army and America.
Benazir took revenge on President Farooq Leghari within one year. She collaborated with her old political rival Nawaz Sharif and clipped the President’s powers to dismiss the Parliament through a constitutional amendment, jointly supported by the then ruling party PML-N and the opposition PPP party. President Leghari resigned within a few days of that ruthless move by Benazir Bhutto.
After taking revenge on Farooq Leghari, the first ever woman-Prime Minister of the Muslim world wanted to counter the propaganda against her husband who was described in local and international media as one of the most corrupt politicians of Pakistan. She was sure that Nawaz Sharif would not release her husband because he would like to use the imprisonment of Zardari for blackmailing the PPP. In 1997, she requested me twice to start writing a book about “a husband who is suffering because the politics of his wife.” I wanted to wait a few months because I was sure that Zardari would be released because there was no solid evidence against him. But I was proven wrong. Zardari was released from prison only in 2005 when Pervez Musharraf was the President of Pakistan and both Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif were in exile.
Musharraf ‘s betrayal
In 1997, I avoided writing a book about a very controversial person. Now that controversial person has become the 13th President of Pakistan. Benazir Bhutto is no longer alive but her husband is now leading her party (PPP) and he is proving to be a very sharp politician. Benazir Bhutto returned to Pakistan in October 2007 after making a deal with political brokers in Washington and London. According to that deal, Mrs. Bhutto agreed to work as Prime Minister with President Musharraf. Her husband begged her not to trust Musharraf but she was confident that Washington and London would guard her political interest. She deputed her husband to look after their children in Dubai and she walked straight on the road to death in Pakistan.
Musharraf betrayed Benazir Bhutto by arresting her and then by using state intelligence agencies against her. Finally she was assassinated just a few days before the election. Musharraf expected that sick and intimidated Zardari would leave politics for the safety of his three children. He was wrong. Zardari came back to Pakistan. He was feeling betrayed by both Musharraf and by the Western brokers of the political deal with his late wife. He led the party in the elections and got the majority on February 18th, 2008. Within the next six months he removed Musharraf from the Presidency and occupied the most powerful office himself. Asif Ali Zardari took his revenge on the Pakistani establishment in his own political way. He betrayed Musharraf and his generals and he also betrayed Washington and London.
A revenge through democracy
Asif Ali Zardari is now waiting for the election of a new President of the USA. He doesn't have much confidence in George W Bush. On his first state visit, later this month, he is going to China, which will be a clear message for the Bush Administration. He believes in the necessity to wage the war against terror, but he would like to reformulate Pakistan’s strategy with the help of the elected Parliament. As President he will not dictate to the Parliament, like Musharraf; he prefers to take advice. The next three months are very important for Zardari as well as for Pakistan. President Zardari has to speak through his actions, not words, because the people of Pakistan are no more ready to believe in political promises, made by many rulers, which were not materialized in the last several years. Zardari has successfully delivered his revenge on Musharraf through democracy. Now he has to change Pakistan through a democratic system. His success would become the success of the whole Muslim world and countries of Islam, such as Afghanistan, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and others would also look at Pakistan as a role model to defeat terror by democracy.
In the first days of his presidency, Asif Ali Zardari has shown conciliatory attitudes to vital problems of Pakistan’s domestic and foreign policy, but also resolve. On the dispute with India over Kashmir he will not depend on secret diplomacy: "All possible solutions on Kashmir will be discussed first in a parliamentary committee on Kashmir and then the final solution will be approved by parliament." Speaking about differences between him and President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan, he defended his joint press conference with the Afghan President: "Yes, I know that Karzai Sahib issued some harsh statements about the Pakistani government in the past, but now his stance is very soft which is a positive sign." President Zardari also commented on the statement of the Army Chief and said no external force will be allowed to conduct military operations inside Pakistan: "The Army Chief repeated the government's policy. The Prime Minister and myself have already condemned cross-border strikes into tribal areas and the two houses of Parliament have already spoken through unanimous resolutions.”
President Zardari also said he is aware of the challenges faced by Pakistan today and he frankly told some journalists pressing him: "I have not become president to enjoy power but actually a big test of my life has started. But give me some time, at least two to three months, and then you will be justified in asking hard questions." Zardari also revealed that he is going first to Scotland where his daughter Bakhtawar will get admission to the University of Edinburgh. After that he will meet British Prime Minister Gordon Brown in England. He said his plans for a China visit are still intact and the foreign office is now finalizing details with Beijing.
President Zardari is confident that he will change Pakistan. Recently he told me: "I will not disappoint Benazir Bhutto when I will meet her in heaven".
