The president’s address

President Asif Ali Zardari’s annual address on the anniversary of his wife Benazir Bhutto’s assassination was less significant for what he said then who he said it with. Accompanying on stage was formerly estranged Aitzaz Ahsan, rather than his son and party Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani. In fact, Aitzaz was even allowed to deliver the address after President Zardari and he used the speech to attack the PTI, a party that has already been attracting disgruntled PPP members. This not only signals Aitzaz’s return to the frontline of PPP politics but should also be seen as a political master stroke, bringing back to prominence and using as a weapon one of the PPP’s oldest and most respected political members.

President Zardari’s speech itself was less combative than the addresses given by Gilani in recent days. He never overtly mentioned the military or its machinations and reserved his harshest words for Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry, saying that he had taken no action in bringing to justice Benazir’s killers. That he would criticise a Supreme Court that has eagerly taken up the memo case and seems bent upon nullifying the NRO and the president’s immunity from prosecution, is understandable. But his choice of criticism left much to be desired since President Zardari’s own government has been strangely lethargic in pursuing Benazir’s assassins.

Equally curious was his assertion that his government has fulfilled 80 per cent of its agenda. With so many problems, plaguing the country, the boast rang hollow. In fact, the president seemed to equate the mere presence of democracy with good governance. He told the crowd that democracy can and will deliver, but questions remain whether a scandal-plagued government widely perceived as corrupt can actually deliver on its promises. The sentiments President Zardari expressed about democracy are welcome at a time when there is a severe strain in civil-military relations but the president needs to be careful not to whitewash his government’s poor record with rhetoric.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 29^th, 2011.