Mr Zardari’s ‘real’ skill

NEW YORK: This is with reference to Khaled Ahmed’s article “Mr Zardari’s ‘real’ skill” (July 29). The writer states: “President Zardari is the man who can save Pakistan in two domains: in politics and in diplomacy.”

Do the past four and a half years provide any proof of that? I am tired of people blaming the army and past governments for the dire state of affairs we find ourselves in. We have too many apologists trying to absolve President Asif Ali Zardari and his government from the present situation.

The writer also states: “As the leader of a liberal party, he still survives as a guarantee against a ‘tyranny of the majority’ backed by terrorism.”

Someone, who did not have the courage to attend the funeral of the Punjab governor, who he had appointed himself is the last one to be named as the “guarantee against a ‘tyranny of the majority’”. Since when has the PPP been a liberal party? It abandoned its liberal leanings during Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s lifetime. The current leadership of the party is overloaded with feudals and waderas. Do liberal parties have inherited leaderships? Have you forgotten the way the leadership of the party responded when five girls were buried alive in Balochistan? Israrullah Zehri, who defended this barbaric act, was a PPP minister then and is still a minister to date.

Shahid Jamil

Published in The Express Tribune, August 1^st, 2012.