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Mr Zardari’s ‘real’ skill
Let’s admit that President Zardari has no principles. He, therefore, has endless options.
The writer is Director South Asian Media School, Lahore [email protected]
My friend Aakar Patel from India has made an assessment of President Asif Ali Zardari as a politician, likening him to “all Indian prime ministers since 1991” and later Mughal kings who “used tact and guile rather than force”. To the outside world, he appears “moderate, more so than Nawaz Sharif or Imran Khan”.
Skill, mentioned in Patel’s article, implies a capacity to be flexible. His ability to deal with diverse factors is appreciated as a gift, which again means exercise of suppleness from a position of weakness. The message is that a weak person must be pliant in confronting his rivals and those who support him. Why should a weak man be flexible?
A weak man must have multiple options in a given situation. A strong man doesn’t need many options because he can force change where change is obstructed by opponents. A weak man hardly has the ability to lay down the law; he is more likely to conform to laws laid down by others. Obedience requires constant adjustment through elasticity of approach. However, perfect adjustability also means lack of guiding principles.
There are two domains where there are virtually no rules: politics and foreign policy. No real international law exists to compel states to behave predictably. But formal law and informal principles are required in human beings to make them predictable in behaviour and, therefore, trustworthy. Politicians are notorious for not having principles. Despite laws like floor-crossing against this trait, there is enough space for them to be ‘flexible’ in their loyalties.
No state passes the test of completely predictable behaviour. The dictum that reigns supreme today is: there are no permanent friends and enemies in international affairs. Foreign policy must remain endlessly tactile (read transactional) so that there are endless options available for the conduct of diplomacy. Not even the US as a superpower can do without a flexibility of approach. Pakistan has recently suffered because it tried to lend ‘fixity’ to diplomacy by getting parliament to lay down the law on policy.
Let’s admit that President Zardari has no principles. He, therefore, has endless options. He embraced the Q League whom he once called ‘Qatil’ (killer) League to increase his majority in parliament. On the other hand, Nawaz Sharif insisted on remaining ‘principled’ by adhering to his oath that he will have no truck with the PML-Q because ‘traitors will not be accepted back’. Even the most moral supporters of Mr Sharif advised him to dump principles but he did not. In the end, even an anti-Zardari media reluctantly admitted that he was the better politician.
President Zardari is the man who can save Pakistan in two domains: in politics and in diplomacy. The army has prevented him by behaving rigidly in foreign policy till it was too late for making certain the dividends from its position of strategic advantage. Instead, he was indirectly made to face a Supreme Court case implicitly accusing him of treason. As the leader of a liberal party, he still survives as a guarantee against a ‘tyranny of the majority’ backed by terrorism.
But governance cannot be without firm regulation. It is governance where President Zardari’s strength becomes his weakness. He made a mistake with the judiciary right at the beginning and is paying for it. Judiciary is mandated by the Constitution to hold all governments to rules of governance. He has lost a lot of support in Pakistan because of the poor quality of governance by his party. Error lies on both sides: being without principles and being hidebound with inflexible literalism.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 29th, 2012.
Reader Comments (42)
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Pliable for petty self interets,supple and cunning for personal gains,crafty in power tactics ; when it comes to delivering for the country i.e governance ,he fails spectacularly.
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Who can argue with these Lahoris when they tell us that Nawaz Sharif is a man of steely integrity, dazzling intellect and solid principles. In fact he cannot be a mere mortal, he must be divine, so perfect is he.
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I wonder how Mr Khaled Ahmed would mark the benefits of Mr Zardari’s flexibility to the nation he has ruled during his term?
Does the net benefit from his rule, immediate and long term, match or exceed the net loss including loss of opportunity and moral identity to Pakistanis?
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In parliamentary system there is nothing else except compromises whereas presidential system is more about delivering to public! In Pakistan we need to have presidential system. 73 Constitution is no more viable & need to be changed to presidential system & making it secular. Only way out from the mess.
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So unprincipled politicians are the best politicians … hmm. What is your opinion about Nelson Mandela?
I think instead of elections we should pay a visit to Pakistani jails and select the most ‘unprincipled’ person, I am sure we can find bigger criminals than Zardari sigh.
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But sir i heard they are getting extention of one more year its gonna be sohnay pe sohaga.
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Zardari is the best politician but an utterly failed ruler.
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I think he made a biggest mistake in the very begining of his tenure when he not only deviated from rules of game set in muree accord, but he openly made fun of the promisses he made to the nation.He lost the confidence of public which was all set to bury the old hatches.He was in fact over confidant.He lost that rare oppertunity to become a real leader.He is an ordinary guy and enjoying that post by virtu of his spouse Benazir Bhutto.
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Past four and a half years are a shining proof of that!!!. And please, for God’s sake, do not put the blame on the army or any one else or the bad governments in the sixty years that preceded his time. We have already had enough apologies presented to us on his behalf.
Let us be serious. Some one who did not have the courage to join in for the funeral of his appointed Governor of Punjab is the last one to be named as the “a guarantee against a ‘tyranny of the majority’”. Since when has the PPP been a liberal party? They left this even while Bhutto was a live. Ask the Mubashir Hasans and the Mairaj Muhammad Khans of the political world. Look at the current leadership of the party which is over loaded with feudals and waderas. Do liberal partys have inherited leaderships? Have you forgotten the way the leadership of the party responded when five girls were buried in Balochistan? Israr ullah Zehri was their minister then and is a minister to date. LOL…
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Politics is nothing but an art of possibilities. Zardari from this point is master of all politicians and non-politicians of Pakistan. He is moderate and could have done much better had he not been hounded from the day one by hawks and Jehadis.
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First I used to laugh at common jialla slogan ” Ek ZARDARI, Sab pa Bhaaari……..” But time has actually proven that. Regardless of what is the plight of common man in Pakistan, I can salute Mr. President of being man of steel nerves. Wish if Bilawal can bring a positive change in this Election. Most ppl will disagree to my comments but the fact of matter is PAKISTANI POOR nation has to bear PPP for another term and fortunately or unfortunately, Mr. Zardari will be life time president.
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I have a horrible fear that the PPP will again be elected, which could result in the disintegration of the country. The opposition parties have to unite to save the country. But with both Nawaz Sharif and Imran Khan being so inflexible, the PPP has a good chance of being re-elected. Let’s pray that PTI and PML-N reach some kind of agreement to get rid of AAZ.
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Please reduce KESC Bijli unit price Janab Zardari Sahab. We are poor people not that rich.
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Well, all we can do now is hope that he does indeed uses his “skills” to improve the conditions.
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“A weak man must have multiple options in a given situation. A strong man doesn’t need many options because he can force change where change is obstructed by opponents.”
Really? Any evidence to back that up? Let me quote Charles Darwin to show what works in nature and what makes someone successful.
“It is not the strongest species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the ones most responsive to change.”
Charles Darwin.
Sometimes it is slightly reworded as follows: “In the struggle for survival, the fittest win out at the expense of their rivals because they succeed in adapting themselves best to their environment.”
Key word: ADAPT.
Principles are based on beliefs, and people aren’t always rational when it comes to their beliefs — and that seems to be especially true when it comes to politics and religion. So, please stop judging others. It’s one thing to disagree with policy, and an another to wallow in self-righteous BS.
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The PPP is a liberal party?
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Aray yaar, Khalid Sahib, you have made Nawaz appear to be a very principled man which infact he is not. Being too stubborn and arrogantly rigid can be identified, in my view, as a sign of stupidity and not “principled” as you seem to suggest.
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Simplistic view. Looks like you do not have enough capacity to understand Zardari. He is not unprincipled. He just knows how much he can press for and how far he can get. He spent two decades in jail, where as Nawaz took the first outlet offered to him. He knows he is the best option Pakistan has. He also understands his limitations. That’s why he reinstated the present chief justice against his own judgement.
As far as my opinion goes, he is the better than any other present leaders of Pakistan.
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@Uza Syed:
I agree with your funny but true remarks. Sharif is a man of principles that is why he apologized to Gen Mush and left the country to a palace for a decade of absence from politics. He is a man of principle that is why he had stopped the SC by attacking the session from hearing a case against him. Last but not the least he has accepted most of the PML-Q leaders except one family and a few others. So much for being man of principles.
Cheers,
Mirza
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As the leader of a liberal party, he still survives as a guarantee against a ‘tyranny of the majority’ backed by terrorism.
And that Sir, is the glue holding Pakistan together. Karachi is an example of what lies in store. Let us learn to recognise this.Recommend
@Mirza Sahib:
Also please enlighten us on zardari and his romance with yesterdays Qaatil league,same people Benazir Bhutto nominated in threat to her life.i am sure its a principled stand but perhaps unknown to us so please enlighten you should…..Also have some mercy on us because Nawaz Shareef and Asif Ali Zaradari are just the flip side of a coin!Recommend
Whenever there is democratic government in Pakistan the “Mafia” raises the standards for governance.Anti corruption platform has used to slap the democratic regime. We often forget that even PMs like Ch Mohammad Ali and Junejo were fired.The silence that prevails now reveals that the previous PM was fired because he was asserting civil authority.The present one is a low key guy. So he is OK. As far as Zardari what is striking is why he has to be so flexible to survive!
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He is splendid for Punjabi establishment.
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The real skills of Zardari is as follows:
1) Country foreign debt gone to 62b$ from 40b$ in just four years.
2) To show diplomacy and political skills the government got 25b$ loans from internal banks and distributed money like sweets among ploitical parties and workers
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@Mustafa Moiz:
Yes I wonder the same. PPP is liberal party????
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Perfectly agree. Some old fashioned punjabi mindset basically can’t afford non-punjabis in power.
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Zardari will give pakistan a lsting gift , a democratic system og governanc
By reaching next election he will have succeded in his mission
Pakistanis will no more be consoderrd uncivilised brutes only to be ruled by Army He didn surrunder like nawaz shareef and if he looses he knows people will bring his party back to powe in due time
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Once again I can’t disagree with Khalid. He is on the mark. Zardari is asset for Pakistan but poor governance he must address.
That notwithstanding, problem of preventing Military taking lion’s share depriving country justice (police, judiciary) and development (Education, electricity, water, health, infra structure), he can’t handle and we can’t blame him.
Khalid
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@Khalid:
Had you seen the annual budget allocations, you would not have made this false comment on Military taking lion’s share depriving the country of other services. It is not the budget allocation only but lack of effective governance that the other services are not being provided to the common people.
You may like to see the budget allocations even now to clear your concept.
Someone truely said that “in every country there is an Army; if not its own, from another country” So it is unfortunate that you have to bear expenses of an Army. It is better that it is our own so far and not from some other country.
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Zaradari has something special. I think he is like poison kills poison. We need Zardari!
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Mirza
I agree with most of your thoughts as always rational and reallistic but I would dissagree with you on your’s disslike(how commen is this disslike) of Nawaz sharif deal with military janata.
It reminds me a wit which says,
A pathan invited some one to his home and said my dear brother I like you very much and with a gun in his hand said,”because i like you very much I would kill you right now”Guest
taken aback, and asked why would he kill me if he liked me very much.Pathan replied
“Khocha ham tum ko marey ga tumhari qabar banaye ga aur phir tumhari pooja kare ga” .
Nawaz Sharif did’n want such pooja.He read the writing on the wall he made a wise descion,unpopular thogh.Political descions taken on public sentiments some time create dissasters.What happend with ZA Bhutto? he could’nt read the situation.
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After Musharraf US could find only zardari to be the perfect yes man in Pakistan and they would definitely keep him at least until 2014 before they leave Afghanistan.
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@gulara
Which Punjabi mindset are you talking about? The same Punjab supported Z.A.Bhutto the most. Get out of this wadera/saeen politics and open your eyes to the rampant corruption. These people belong to no one, they only care about themselves.
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@ sabi well Zardari stayed and suvvived !!! Nawaz had been given prison sentance not gallows
So he proved to be a coward , a deal maker and concvict. PPP survived without benazer so PMLN woud hae survived
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Logic europ hull
Did Benazir Bhutto survived? and zardari left pakistan straightaway after his release he came back only when danger, Benazir Bhutto was no more.
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@ Sabi. I am busy watching pak spain hocky matchin london will answee your childush comment wirh logoic latetr
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@Khalid:
Good governance does not need any money. Just a robust system based on merit with proper check and balance and freedom from political interference.When you appoint someone as head of institution as “reward” for his loyalty to the party,he is going to do just that— swallow the whole thing as reward.
When elected assembly members are the hiring and firing authority for any institutions then a phone call from them to go over and beyond the allocated quota can not be ignored.
What was lacking was not the money ; but the political will, vision and character.
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@elementary I agree with you wholeheartedly and your “check and balance and freedom from political interference” is something I support. The civil bureaucracy has to be strengthened to enable it to resist their masters party political agendas and personal greed.
In the UK they have trade unions such as a Police Superintendent’s Association http://www.policesupers.com/ and the FDA, formerly The Association of First Division Civil Servants http://www.fda.org.uk/Aboutus/whatfdastandsfor.aspx which protect civil servants from unfair pressure by politicians. If these trade unions are powerful enough the load of courts in curbing the appetites and party political agendas of politicians will be lightened.
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Just for your information Mr Khaled, the “principled” Nawaz Sharif has also willingly and lovingly hugged ‘traitors, supporters of dictator,’ the bad guys of Q League. While having your own opinion is your right, you must not forget that facts are sacred.
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Dear Elementary & Nazir Ali,
Your fondness for Pakistan’s military doesn’t make sense. You talked about “see the budget” but you didn’t quote any figure. For your convenience, let me give a simple fact. All Pakistan’s earned revenue is divided between debt servicing and military evenly. Rest of the country runs on borrowed money, local and foreign.
You say a country has a Army local or foreign, there is another saying “all countries have Armies, in Pakistan, Army has a country.”
Don’t forget, with our budget expense only only one part of the country wants their expensive services, whereas the whole pays. Also note, in terms of pays & allowances, only one part of the country gets this income. The country wants money for internal security, which is police’s and judiciary’s responsibility.
One more thing. For development-governance, PPP, N-League, ANP, MQM and a few other parties are responsible. For our Foreign and Internal Security policies Military is responsible. Lay the blame where it belongs. Any illogical blame only makes us parochial. In a multi-ethnic country, can we afford this evil.
Be Pakistani and Love Pakistan and be just. This helps our country.
Khalid
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The Army has to face accountability to the citizens though the Judiciary and through Elected Representatives, the trouble is that the present lot of the latter have lost credibility. The starting block has to be a credible and strong judiciary.
The trouble is that our judiciary is apparently having trouble maintaining credibility as an unbiased institution with respect for due process.Recommend
@Khalid:
Budget figures are avialble on the internet and it would be better if you can see these for yourself because my statement may not appeal to you. If the army has a country or the country has an army, it is the same thing as a country can not survive as an independent state without its Army. That phrase is just playing with words and has no meaning.
My name is Nazir Ahmed which I had written while giving comments and not the one you have given in response.
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