Daily Times

Asif Ali Zardari would be the first President of Pakistan to complete his term in office and give way democratically to the next incumbent. This follows the only democratically elected government that completed its tenure and handed over the reins of power to another democratically elected government in a peaceful manner. Enforcing democracy in letter and spirit has been the motto of President Asif and his party for which they brought forth the 18th Amendment to purge the constitution of the footprints of dictatorial eras. However, when they left office there were still many unanswered questions over the way the party and the president ruled the country. The opportunity to restore the deposed judges amicably was squandered by the PPP. Something that could have become a feather in the cap of the government had been thrown into the rollercoaster of digressions and unfulfilled promises, with the result that the PML-N, the allies of PPP in the Centre and Punjab, parted ways with the PPP. What then followed was more embarrassing as the army had to intervene following the long march spearheaded by Nawaz Sharif in 2009. The judges were eventually restored by Prime Minister Gilani, but in the process the government inadvertently created a problem for itself wherein it had to live in constant struggle with the judiciary for the rest of its term.

The incompetence of the PPP-led government notwithstanding, Zardari was successful in keeping all the PPP allies together for the full five years of the goverment’s term. However, this could not prevent the party’s electoral fortunes dipping in the 2013 elections. What was the party of the federation was restricted to only Sindh. A complete whitewash from Punjab, Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkwa (KP) was an indication that the party had failed to win hearts and minds by not meeting the expectations of the people, and had been a failure in finding a solution to the issues of terrorism and Balochistan. Terrorism spawning ruthlessly through the length and breadth of the country and deeply entrenched in KP had been left to fester owing to the government’s inability to develop an all-encompassing national security policy. To top it all, the energy crisis was dealt with casually. Relieving circular debt whenever the matter heated up to provide a few days respite and paying lip service to the issue by ordering different verbal policies were the only steps one could remember emanating form the government to unburden the masses of the crippling energy crisis. Beyond policy dialogue within and outside parliament, nothing substantial came forth to pull the country out of its multiple problems. It was this failure that became the reason for PPP’s failure in the national elections.

The constitutional crisis is another chapter that kept the country, its judicial and administrative system on tenterhooks for most of Zardai’s years in office. The red carpet farewell given to Musharaf by Zardari, in line with the National Reconciliation Ordinance, became a scar on his government’s reputation. The NRO haunted Zardari and his party for almost three years. The deadlock over the Swiss accounts, for which Gilani was sacrificed and Raja Ashraf was hurriedly bought in to fill the gap, convinced the masses that it is the power struggle and not their needs and wants that occupies the minds of the ruling elite. To make matters worse, the party’s workers, the diehard jiyalas were kept far from the centre of power. This division and separation of purpose between the leaders and the workers made PPP a rudderless ship that made shipwreck in the elections process.

The five years that Zardari spent in office could have been made the best of times for the people of this country and the worst for its enemies hovering over it, especially through terrorism. But it was not to be. Zardari has now left Pakistan. His slot will be filled on August 6 by some PML-N stalwart. Though the seat of the president has become ceremonial, its sanctity still requires a vigilant eye over the system to keep the country intact and purposeful. *