Daily Times

After being elected as president of Pakistan, too many words have been written and spoken in honour of Asian Nelson Mandela. I would like to add these two: THANK YOU!

I have always felt pride to address Asif Ali Zardari with the nickname of “Asian Nelson Mandela” since 2005. Asian Nelson Mandela and Asif Ali Zardari have made history. He is the first President to have been elected twice to this office. He is the 14th President of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan and was sworn in office on the 10th of March 2024. Previously, He served as the 11th President of Pakistan from 9th September 2008 to 9th September 2013. I thank all lawmakers for electing the benefactor of the nation.

And heartiest congratulations to President Zardari, all lawmakers and the people of Pakistan. We as a nation must thank Asian Nelson Mandela for helping humanity, under the conditions and circumstances he faced during his imprisonment. He faced third-degree torture during his imprisonment but when he returned to power no political prisoner during the PPP government (2008-2013).

For the people of Pakistan, he emerged as a ray of hope as a light. He is without comparison, President Zardari is the Nelson Mandela character in the history of Pakistan, he spent 14 years in jail on mere baseless allegations of corruption although he was innocent as neither has any graft charges proven against him, nor has he even been convicted by the courts. And when returned to power he forgave all. Be it power or prison I have witnessed him as a man with nerves of steel.

Founder of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto gave the first constitution of Pakistan and gave civil rights to every citizen of Pakistan from all provinces, in 2008, when Asian Nelson Mandela was elected as president of Pakistan, he gave provincial autonomy.

What a man he is! He surrendered his powers to Parliament to strengthen democracy in Pakistan and from last 15 years consistency in democracy is because of the landmark decision of Zardari. Indeed he is the savior of democracy in Pakistan. Now the biggest challenges ahead for Mr. Mandela are to aggregate the segregated nation and uplift the fragile economy. hate mongers have created a deep internal polarized environment to derail the process of democracy in Pakistan. Sadly, borders are also not an ideal situation. Pakistan is crippled by a myriad of issues both external conflicts and internal. deepening polarization.

Now the President will have to work on:

* Keeping good ties with neighbouring nations and strong relations with all nuclear nations in

particular.

* Protection of human rights, right to work right to employment etc. It will help in the empowerment of people.

* To ensure the human rights of true followers and activists of democracy.

* Legislation to stop undue criticism of the Pakistan Army.

* Improving police-community for effective law enforcement. Police are struggling to keep a good relationship with the public, and a high magnitude of mistrust and mistreatment is not only hindering effective policing but sometimes innocents become the victims of police.

* Actively engaging two-thirds youth population of Pakistan (age below 30) to establish sustainable mechanisms from college to university campuses and all forums of civil society to encourage dialogue, critical thinking and peace education.

* Disability representation in Parliament, 7 percent population of Pakistan is the most neglected in terms of human rights. The time has come to elect senators from them in upcoming senate elections in April 2024. It will not only improve ratings of democracy in the international community but will help to achieve sustainable development goals (SDGs).

* Protection of rights of women, religious minorities, ethnic minorities and gender groups.

* Elimination of terrorism mindset while engaging local community leaders and civil society.

* Establishing inclusive and democratic institutions while engaging all stakeholders.

* Endorsement from all legislative forums to sign UNCERD so that non-state actors may not find any space to hurt the interests of the state of Pakistan o Free access to health for all.

* Free education to masters level in all universities for every citizen of Pakistan.

Zardari is the master of having peace with everyone to serve the interests of the nation and state. In his previous term of presidency (2008-2013), he had started working on it and he will keep it up to save Pakistan.

The best quality and character for which he is so popular and famous is his statesmanship he is the statesman to forgives his worst enemies. In a developing scenario, when Imran Khan is expecting major relief from Mandela, the question remains how he will handle enemies of the state. And given sustainable development goals (SDGs) will Zardari ensure disability representation in Parliament in the upcoming senate elections in April 2024?

The writer is a doctor and senior public health expert. He tweets @IamSaifRK