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After setbacks, Zardari is an improved, chastised man

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Wednesday, April 29, 2009

By Ansar Abbasi

ISLAMABAD: President Asif Ali Zardari has apparently improved as a leader as compared to how I found him in my three previous interactions. He appears more sombre than before, is no more a chatterer as he used to be, admits mistakes unlike the past, rarely uses the expression “I” that has been the trait of his monologue, and above all sounds practical.

Meeting the president for two hours along with a group of journalists and columnists and dining together in the Presidential palace on Monday night turned out to be a pleasant surprise. It is not that the man sitting in the Presidency would change the destiny of Pakistan and bring prosperity and happiness in the lives of its people, but this meeting has helped me dispel some serious apprehensions that I had in my mind about Mr Asif Ali Zardari.

Though it was an off the record and a background discussion, President Zardari proved himself to be a disappointing source of information for the media. Despite being assured that he would not be quoted, he did not share any startling information. For news gatherers it was a boring occasion. But I have quite a few reasons to come out of the Presidency a satisfied man.

One comforting aspect of the meeting was that President Zardari desires to give every chance to the ongoing peace process in Swat and is not influenced by the internal and external pressures to rescind the agreement. On this particular issue, he is patient and has the realization that the military option would be the last resort because it would mean deaths and killings including those of innocents.

He wants to give Maulana Sufi Muhammad every chance to honour his words and is confident to persuade Washington during his forthcoming visit as to why the peace deal is so crucial and must be allowed to succeed.

My previous three interactions with Mr Asif Ali Zardari since Nov 4, 2007, one in Dubai at his residence to which he also referred in the Monday’s meeting and two in Islamabad after the Feb 18, 2008 elections, did not go so well as on almost each occasion we ended up in a verbal clash.

He used to be talkative to such a limit that he would not allow others to speak their mind. His philosophy, his reasoning and his arguments were not convincing, at times incomprehensible. He also used to sound arrogant, at times degrading others. But the Zardari I met and observed on Monday is an improved version of his past.

I am not sure whether he has been counseled for this or was acting like an experienced man but what we all saw was that now he listens to others too and does not sound arrogant as he used to be. He admitted that he had made mistakes and could have done better than what he and his government actually did. He did not contest to the general impression that there seems to be no government in Islamabad as the good governance remains a far cry. But he assures that things would improve and insists that the present situation is the outcome of a peculiar background.

During the recent months, I have been conveyed by quite a few that President Zardari does not like me because of my critical writings. I know that General Musharraf also had similar feelings for me. But the difference between the two is that one still opted to interact with me. Even otherwise a democratically elected ruler, irrespective of his reputation and personal conduct, is better than a dictator, who may or may not have a very good personal character and reputation.

Mr Zardari’s appointment as president after his repeated backtracking of promises and in view of his known reputation had caused a lot of concern amongst many. I was amongst those, who did not conceive his election positively and feared far more problems coming our way. I knew that President Zardari is not going to restore the Nov 2 judiciary and holds personal venom against Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry. But he had to bow before the public pressure and restored him contrary to his personal will.

In case of General Musharraf when pressure was exerted on him, instead of respecting the voice of the people, he ruined the institution of judiciary on Nov 3, 2007. This is perhaps a perfect comparison between dictatorship and democracy and to prove why democracy, no matter how bad it is, is always better than dictatorship.

Later President Zardari also honoured Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry’s advice for the appointment of the top judges’ choice men as judges of the Supreme Court and as Chief Justice of the Lahore High Court.

The signing of Nizam-e-Adl Regulation by President Zardari is yet again another indication of the negation of his personal views for the sake of bringing peace in Swat. Now he is determined to protect the peace accord to all possible limits. But there are too many challenges the country is still facing for which President Zardari perhaps needs to change a lot more.

We the media would be there to encourage him for everything positive that he would do for Pakistan. He though feels that the media has been too critical of him during the last one year, the time would prove that he would get appreciation for every good thing that he would do but receive reprimand where he would go wrong only for the sake of Pakistan and for the people of Pakistan. It is wrong to expect from the media to be loyal to personalities or political entities. They have to be loyal to the interests of the state, its institutions and its people.
After setbacks, Zardari is an improved, chastised man

ansar abbasi talking gud about president zardari:what:
either abbasi sahab is not feelin well or president has really learned from his mistakes:cheers:
 
The president is learning on the job — and well

Wednesday, April 29, 2009
By Tariq Butt

ISLAMABAD: President Asif Ali Zardari was at ease during an elaborate off-the-record discussion-cum-dinner on Monday night with a mixed cluster of columnists, who also included some of his known critics and pro-Nawaz Sharif elements. However, his recognised detractors preferred to refrain from grilling the man they always find fault with and chose to either remain silent or just put goody-goody questions. They thus demonstrated their fascination for speaking through their writings or in TV talk shows.

Information Minister Qamaruzzaman Kaira has introduced the new policy of arranging sessions of senior media men with the president, who was appreciative of the practice that the new chief spin-doctorís predecessor didnít bring in. It was perhaps the first time in the context of the meetings of the pressmen with Zardari that the information ministry was asked to do its assigned bit. Earlier, different presidential aides (or too many cooks in the presidentís media kitchen) have been organising Zardariís discussions with their respective chosen lots.

The president gave considerable importance to the new PPP Information Secretary, Fauzia Wahab. If Kaira was sitting on his right, she was on her left. She kept taking notes most of the time. In the two and a half hours’ conversation the name of Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani did not come up even once, showing the weight and bearing that the chief executive of the country has. Neither the president nor any questioner felt the need to make even a passing reference to Gilani in terms of formulating, devising or altering any national policy. There was no doubt in any mind that it was Zardari who runs the show without even any worthwhile participation or share of the prime minister.

Nawaz Sharif’s name was mentioned in the talk just for once. No meeting between him and the president has taken place since long as when one is in Pakistan, the other is abroad and vice versa. But there was no aversion or adverse remark made by Zardari about Nawaz Sharif.

It emerged from his talk that the president has started changing himself somewhat, has begun learning on the job and is now willing to hear others as well rather than delivering his prolonged monologues. He has started understanding the dynamics of the “establishment” and is now part of it. He appeared to have improved significantly.

But he would still stubbornly stick to doing what he thinks is the correct course for him and wouldn’t agree easily. For example, he has no plan to leave the party office as he doesn’t agree with the constitutional interpretation against the dual offices and none of his coalition partners objected while making alliance with him.

He is not bothered about the two-year bar on a former president to contest election as he was not jumping in the polls. The ban is only on fighting elections and not on taking part in the political activities. Only after lot of arguments, the president would partially admit “governance problems” and that the government has become weak because of its policies.

Zardari did not break any big story that persons of his official statures had usually been doing in the past background briefings. Most of the session was consumed by the happenings in Swat and Dir. There is no timeline in the presidentís mind about clearing the mess in these troubled areas, but he seems willing to give an ample chance to the peace agreement to succeed. The government would show patience and would not come out with a knee-jerk reaction to the demands of using force. But the use of force would not be totally put aside. It would keep putting the onus of restoring peace in the Malakand Division on the shoulders of banned Tehrik Nifaz-e-Shariat Mohammadi (TNSM) chief Maulana Sufi Mohammad.

For the moment, the government is not inclined to immediately scrap the Swat peace deal and the NAR under pressure from their detractors just to give them another opportunity to cry hoarse over the massive collateral damage of any military operation and the mass exodus of people from the area. It doesn’t want a repeat of the Lal Masjid episode.

There was an open admission that a total elimination of the miscreants and extremists was unachievable because of the difficult mountainous terrain as it was impossible to deploy military troops in every nook and corner of the hilly region. Even F-16 and tanks had been used in the past. There was no fear of the spread of the Taliban’s control beyond the Swat valley as has been bandied about by the international media, especially American news outlets and senior US officials. The political and military leadership ìby and largeî agree on most national policy issues and challenges, and Zardari prefers the Army chief to give his input rather than knowing his or the government’s decisions through electronic media. Although he has the powers to introduce the NAR in the Pata (Provincially Administered Tribal Areas) and to issue a general amnesty in Balochistan, he chose to consult with parliament, the Army chief and other stakeholders to have a corporate opinion.

The Balochistan situation also got mention in the discussion. “Arms merchants” have a field day when the situation becomes volatile. Zardari did not seem worried and exuded confidence that the reconciliation process that he kicked off would succeed.


The president is learning on the job — and well
 
two news articles in favour of president zardari and that also in The News. I wont be suprised if mr. zardari gets a heart attack
 
He has got some really good PR skill developement manor he has bought the news but I feel that he has been sternly warned not to destroy the PPP by his followers just so that they can have a poltical future.
 
Lol money can buy alot of things two articles are nothing....:yahoo::taz: i still don't trust the man....he is killing the business community with his 50% demands since he got into power.
 
Ansar Abbasi and Hamid Mir - is it possible that the ISI can pick them up for a few days and change their rectal dimensions so that they can understand what is going on!
 
Ansar Abbasi and Hamid Mir - is it possible that the ISI can pick them up for a few days and change their rectal dimensions so that they can understand what is going on!


good one :rofl::rofl::rofl:
 

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