Zardari’s speech

It should be clear to all what is needed at this stage are calm words to help answer questions of national importance

For a man usually so sure-footed politically, former president Asif Ali Zardari might have made a misstep with his latest fulmination against ‘The Establishment’. There are those who consider Mr Zardari to be part of the very establishment he is taking to task for overstepping its domain. His assertion that politicians are better suited to running the affairs of the country may be the correct one, but the way the political leadership of the country has conducted itself over the years and his own party’s most recent tenure in governance were hardly sparkling examples of how to run a country. Collectively, and for the entire life of the country, its politicians have presented the people with a set of interconnected failures. Mr Zardari and his party no less so than any other or indeed the current dispensation which is presiding over the gradual collapse of the National Action Plan.



That said, Mr Zardari in broad terms is correct in observing that institutions need to remain within their natural domains, though we do wonder if his tirade was triggered by actions against alleged criminal elements within political parties and if so, his principled stance becomes somewhat tarnished. He might also consider the wisdom of throwing down gauntlets in front of those quarters which are unlikely to be in forgiving mood if there are ever scores to be settled. He might also like to reconsider the wisdom of yet another politician calling for the country to be brought to ‘a grinding halt’ — which is just about the last thing the nation needs at this point. All this huffing and puffing follows in the wake of Rangers chief Major General Bilal Akbar’s statement in which he called a nexus of “political leaders, civil servants and gang lords” as being behind organised crime and terrorism in Karachi — something that many are likely to regard as a statement of the blindingly obvious. Added to all this is the letter that the Sindh chief minister has written to the DG Rangers claiming that the paramilitary force had exceeded authority when it conducted raids on the offices of some government bodies. It should be clear to all that what is needed at this stage are calm words and wise heads in order to help answer questions of national importance. Angry outbursts do little for the country’s political stability.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 18^th,  2015.

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