President Zardari Speech in Punjabi
Jan 19, 2010 Pakistan, pakistan politics
Tags: Asif Zardari, Lahore, Pakistan, President Zardari, Punjab, Punjabi speech, zardari
Asif Zardari faces being engulfed in Pakistan corruption scandal
Nov 28, 2009 News & Events, Pakistan, pakistan politics
By Saeed Shah in Islamabad
Asif Zardari, Pakistan’s president, faces being engulfed in a damaging corruption scandal which threatens to distract the country from its battle with the Taliban.
Asif Zardari: Mr Zardari is himself on the list but is protected from prosecution by presidential immunity. Photo: AFP
The Pakistani leader and members of his fragile pro-Western government will be hit by a string of criminal allegations when an amnesty protecting high-ranking politicians expires on Saturday.
Hundreds of court cases could be revived just as the nuclear-armed government battles a stubborn Taliban insurgency.
The publication of a list of more than 8,000 politicians covered by the amnesty has disclosed it covers bureaucrats, senior ministers and ambassadors who are charged with offences ranging from murder to embezzlement.
The Supreme Court has ruled the amnesty on charges dating back to the 1990s, which was introduced in 2007, will end on Saturday.
Mr Zardari is himself on the list but is protected from prosecution by presidential immunity.
However some lawyers believe they could prove him unfit for office and cases could be renewed against allies including Rehman Malik, interior minister, and the ambassadors to London and Washington.
The end of the amnesty has alarmed the West which fears lengthy politically-motivated trials could distract their key ally in Islamabad from the Pakistani army’s war with the Taliban in Waziristan.
Mr Zardari has become a critical part of Western efforts to defeat the militants and hunt al-Qaeda in the borderlands of Afghanistan and Pakistan.
The amnesty was introduced through a decree by former President Pervez Musharraf in 2007 under a plan to share power with Mr Zardari’s wife and former prime minister Benazir Bhutto.
Mr Zardari gained the nickname “Mr Ten Percent” from accusations he received kickbacks while awarding lucrative contracts during his wife’s two stints in office in the 1990s.
he publication of a list of more than 8,000 politicians covered by the amnesty has disclosed it covers bureaucrats, senior ministers and ambassadors who are charged with offences ranging from murder to embezzlement.
The Supreme Court has ruled the amnesty on charges dating back to the 1990s, which was introduced in 2007, will end o
He spent years in jail on the charges, and while he was never convicted, the allegations have continued to pursue him.
The 8,000 names on the list are dominated by politicians from the ruling Pakistan Peoples’ Party (PPP) and its coalition partner Muttahida Quami Movement.
Mr Zardari’s supporters believe the publication of the list of names and successful challenge of the amnesty is a military backed plot to oust him.
In a speech this week, Mr Zardari said that: “We are not afraid of conspiracies”, adding that “it is the right of the PPP government to complete its term”.
Despite presidential immunity, some lawyers have argued Mr Zardari is not protected from charges stemming from the period before he took office.
Even if his immunity protects him, the regurgitation of old corruption allegations will add greatly to the political pressure on him to step down.
To try to placate his critics, Zardari may be forced to give up most of his powers to the prime minister.
Arif Nizami, a political analyst, said: “It seems sometimes like a witch-hunt,” he said “Zardari is perceived as too dependent or too pro the United States, and sometimes not quite in agreement with the strategic view of the army.”
Several court petitions are prepared, including cases against Mr Zardari’s right to be president and lawsuits that will test the limits of presidential immunity.
One lawsuit will even challenge the president’s mental health – another ground for removal from office.
AK Dogar, a lawyer preparing to sue the president, said: “The president is not protected for his personal actions, only for whatever he does through the office of president.
“The idea of anyone being above the law is wrong.”
Tags: Asif Zardari, corruption, Pakistan, President Zardari, scandal, zardari
Americans see a change in the air in Pakistan
Sep 28, 2009 Articles, News & Events, Pakistan, pakistan politics
Thursday, September 24, 2009
By Dr Shahid Masood
WASHINGTON: Americans see a change fast, but smoothly, coming in Pakistan in the wake of loss of credibility of the man at the helm, following some domestic legal developments.
After meeting top political and defence decision-makers here in the US capital, where I was invited by the National Defence University (NDU) for a two-day seminar on the anniversary of 9/11, I was told in unambiguous terms that a change in Pakistan was inevitable for US policy interests, although Washington does not intend to disrupt the system.
Several important Pakistani political players have also been conveyed the same message by the US political and defence establishment, including the MQM and recently the ANP, whose chief is travelling with President Asif Zardari in New York.
The main problem being faced by the US administration, which it may never admit publicly, is that the present set-up with Asif Ali Zardari as the de facto ruler, has no credibility at home and no ability to deliver on the promises he makes, either on the military side or on the war on terror or on governance issues.
“Zardari has also abandoned the idea of political consensus which he had started to follow in the early days after the February elections,” one official said on background. “He appears to be non-serious in government and lives in perpetual fear and insecurity, preferring to stay out of the country.”
The US side thinks that they had made a sensible move by pushing an alliance between late Benazir Bhutto and General Pervez Musharraf as this team would have provided all the ingredients of a stable and cooperative Pakistan to Washington. She would have provided the political support while Musharraf would have used his military muscle against the terrorists and extremists in a stable environment.
They say Zardari has failed to provide that environment, rather he has involved himself in day-to-day business and administrative matters while his political coalition and parliament have been left looking like dumb and dummies.
Many officials say Zardari has been asking the US administration to bail him out on too many issues and too many occasions. He has sought the US help to tame the Army, keep his alliance partners, especially the opposition of Nawaz Sharif’s PML-N in check, directly or through the Saudis on sensitive issues like Musharraf’s or cutting his own constitutional powers.
All these demands are way beyond the capacity of any US administration to deliver while Zardari has almost left everything to us to handle, an agitated official said. “If we have to handle everything, his own credibility within the country will sink and has sunk to the lowest low.”
Other officials I met were even blunter. They say the US abhors corruption, kickbacks and commissions anywhere in the world as a matter of policy.
Another official said the US would keep track of the parties or persons involved and money transaction in the Pakistan’s rental power venture. There are still no roadmaps or any modality work sheets in Washington on how a change in Pakistan would occur, but the US capital is keeping its fingers crossed as to what comes out of the NRO case pending with the Supreme Court.
The impression gathered from the words of these top Americans is that the US would not intervene if the apex court starts hearing the case. The view is that if the NRO was discussed and details of who benefited, who made what deals and how serious crimes were committed and then whitewashed, start to be revealed in the SC, the moral authority of the NRO beneficiaries would erode fatally. In this scenario, the NRO beneficiaries may themselves throw in the towel seeking a safe exit.
In several informed US and Pakistani circles I moved in for several days in Washington, the same scenario was repeated, often exactly in the same tone and sequence.
A Pakistani, who knows a lot about developments in Pakistan and the US scene, said that apart from this purely legal and domestic scene, there were four possible ways through which Zardari could exit. These ways were repeated by others who had nothing to do at all with the previous source. They are: one, impeachment; two, voluntary resignation in the wake loss of credibility; three, ‘natural’ or man-made elimination of the president, and, four, an Army coup. The impeachment and coup scenarios are considered non-starter and impossibility.
US and some Pakistani circles said that a resignation after enough dirt is thrown in the public domain when the NRO case details begin to unfold is a favourite way out, as it would not, being an outcome of the legal process, disrupt the system.
I was asked many times whether a coup is a possibility in the current situation and I always said no, but the question kept surfacing again and again.
This is probably because there was some loose talk of a shuffle in the military hierarchy by President Zardari in which Army chief General Kayani was to be replaced by some other pliant general who could ensure continuity and stability for the Zardari regime.
This scenario was shot down in Washington instantly as an impossibility, since it had information that the Pakistan Army considered a coup or intervention as a total no-go area and could have brought back another October 12, 1999 type of situation. It is so also because of the fact that Gen Kayani has established, through words and deeds, that he is all for democracy.
With all these scenarios being discussed, the growing feeling is that not much time is left for the current status quo and it will lead to a period of political turmoil in Pakistan if President Zardari continues with his ways any longer.
The sudden emergence of a top MQM delegation in Washington for talks with the policy makers, officials and think tanks of Washington has also raised many questions as the official Pakistani diplomatic channels were totally cut off and I gather that this was done at the insistence of the US side more than the MQM leadership.
Not even a courtesy meeting between Governor Ishratul Ebad and Ambassador Husain Haqqani was held until four days after the arrival of the MQM delegation and meetings with top strategists, including Bruce Riedel, John Negroponte, Richard Boucher, and current State Department officials, including Richard Holbrooke.
A similar exercise has now been planned with the ANP chief while he will be here in the presidential entourage.
What happened in these meetings is known only to the MQM leaders and the US side but the tone and tenor of MQM in the coming weeks and days will give the first hints of whether the course of the PPP-MQM alliance is changing in stormy waters in the middle of the sea. How the ANP reacts is also to be seen but already Asfandyar Wali is said to be very happy with the praise for his party’s governance in the NWFP by US officials as well as the promises to give them direct financial aid. With the MQM and the ANP almost on board, I will be eagerly waiting for the first signs of the new US strategy unfolding in the days and weeks to come.
Tags: ANP, Asif Zardari, Dr Shahid Masood, Gen Kayani, MQM
The world’s biggest losers
Mar 21, 2009 Articles
If there’s one thing you’ve got to love about tough times is: they’re tough on everyone. These days, it’s not easy even for those who have taken historically proven paths to amassing wealth, fame, power, social acceptance and happiness — like becoming a billionaire or pope or U.S. Treasury secretary or an Austrian sadist. Admittedly, it’s hard to work up too much sympathy for most of these mighty who have fallen, but sympathy is not the only reason to reflect on their fates. There are also the cautionary lessons offered up by their Icarus-like descents. Nah, who are we kidding? That’s for some other blog. There are only two real reasons to revisit these stories. It’s fun to watch the bastards squirm. And because recently the headlines have been filled with so many prominent people who for one reason or another are royally screwed, we want to know: Who’s the most screwed? Which of these figures who have chosen a well-worn path to the limelight, has done the most damage to their own reputations and the lives of those around them?
Here are thirteen choices from this month’s headlines ranked by just how little sympathy we should have for them:
1.) Josef Fritzl
Back in the good old days, when Joseph Alois Ratzinger was a little boy, being an Austrian sadist was a surefire path to the top, it could lead anywhere, perhaps even to world domination. But today, Austrians are outraged that one of their own could have locked his daughter in the basement, made her his sex slave, and killed one of the seven children he had with her. Which is really bad. Austria has changed, you see. There is no tolerance for twisted brutality there anymore. Well, less. In fact, fewer than a third of Austrians voted for the hate-spewing, neo-fascist extreme right parties like the Freedom Party and the Alliance for the Future. And while cynics (Jews or Muslims) might point out that this was the same proportion of the population who voted for Austria’s leading party, the Social Democrats, their point is undercut by the fact that it was only a relatively few Austrians who honor Nazi heroes in public ceremonies on the anniversary of Kristalnacht or who have participated in nasty little rituals like the recent unfurling of a Nazi flag in Hitler’s hometown of Braunau. No, there is no place for a Fritzl in modern Austria and so he will be sent to a psychiatric prison for the rest of his life. But one must wonder, is the outrage because of his crimes, because they were against fellow Austrians or because he thought so small?
2.) The pope
To non-believers he may be just a creepy old ex-Hitler Youth member who wears funny clothes and has appalling values, but to Catholics he is so much more than that. For example, according to one Vatican insider quoted in the U.K.’s Daily Telegraph newspaper, “he’s out of touch with the real world” and his papacy is “a disaster.” Another is reported to have said he “is isolated and fails to adequately consult his advisors.” At least. His Africa trip pronouncement that condoms not only don’t help the fight against AIDS but that their distribution actually “aggravates the problems” is not just a PR nightmare for the Holy See; delivered on the continent where both AIDS is most rampant and the Church is growing fastest, it is a formula for massive death and suffering.
3.) Bernie Madoff
What more can you say about Bernie? For a decade and a half he went to bed every night knowing that he was lying, cheating, faking trades, committing fraud, and putting his and countless other families at grievous risk. And yet he lived his life like a king, like the former chairman of the National Association of Securities Dealers that he was, with yachts and mansions in the Hamptons and Mayfair. In fact, noted judge of character and bankruptcy-addict Donald Trump said “he was a pretty respected guy.” That says it all.
4.) Chris Dodd
The Nutmeg State’s longest-serving senator got his job the old-fashioned way, he [effectively] inherited it from his father, Sen. Thomas Dodd. He is also now virtually certain to lose it the old-fashioned way, as a result of a combination of arrogance, corruption, lying, and misreading the mood of the times. From his questionable home-mortgage finances to the comedy of errors this week when he denied having anything to do with legislative provisions allowing the A.I.G. bonus then blamed it on his staff then blamed it on the Treasury, Dodd is serving himself up on a silver platter to his opponents. And none of that even addresses the issue that as chairman of the Senate Banking Committee he was at the center of a fat-donations-from-Wall Street-equals-zero-oversight-from-Congress culture that helped get the world into this mess in the first place.
5.) Asif Ali Zardari
Zardari was known to be a bad guy long before he became Pakistan’s president. Many of the closest friends of his late wife, Benazir Bhutto, could not stand him. Now, as it turns out, neither can most of the Pakistani people. Locked in a bitter struggle with opposition leader Nawaz Sharif, Zardari showed his weakness by capitulating to demands to reinstate Pakistan’s former Chief Justice per Sharif’s demands. Now in a desperate attempt to reassert control of his own party he may be plotting the ouster of his Prime Minister according to Indian press reports. He’s on the ropes, his opposition is gaining strength, and meanwhile fraught, dangerous, complex Pakistan is hardly being governed at all.
6.) Tim Geithner
Sadly for Tim Geithner, he even looks like a sacrificial lamb. Earnest, brilliant, trying his best, he will never be able to escape the fact that he is one of the few who will get the blame for both the misguided Bush era bailouts and the false-starts of the Obama administration. Every time there is a mistake, the bus will head in his direction.
7.) Ben Bernanke
In ancient societies, dark uncontrollable forces were placated by throwing virgins into volcanoes. In Washington, the ritual involves throwing officials under the bus. (The bus is implacable but near-sighted. As it approaches one victim, it will be at least temporarily satisfied if that victim throws someone else in its path.)
8.) A.I.G. Bonus Babies
The NY Times writes, “Residents who had been pillars of Connecticut towns are finding themselves the focus of populist rage.” But shouldn’t we have hated them already for even wanting to be pillars of Connecticut towns? I mean, these people actually chose to become insurance executives and live in John Cheever hell just to become wealthy? Didn’t they see The Ice Storm.
9.) Bibi Netanyahu
The fact that a man President Clinton’s White House spokesman once called “one of the most obnoxious individuals you’re going to come into — just a liar and a cheat” has managed to bring himself to the verge of returning as Israel’s prime minister is something of an amazing feat.
10.) Gordon Brown
It’s hard to hate Gordon Brown. In fact, it’s hard not to feel bad for the guy. This is due in part to the fact that he is Britain’s first prime minister who is also part basset hound.
11.) Eliot Spitzer
Poor Eliot. If only he had kept it in his pants, this would have been his moment. One can hardly imagine what is making his life worse right now, the fact that the A.I.G
According to Forbes, the official magazine of Wall Street greed, the world’s billionaires managed to misplace $1.4 trillion in the past year, their ranks thinning from 1125 to 793.
13.) Edward Liddy
The only reason this guy is on the list is that his career is probably finished simply because most people will forever associate him with A.I.G.
Tags: A.I.G. Bonus Babies, Asif Ali Zardari, Asif Zardari, Ben Bernanke, Bernie Madoff, Bibi Netanyahu, Chris Dodd, Edward Liddy, Josef Fritzl, The pope, Tim Geithner
What Now For President Asif Zardari?
Mar 20, 2009 pakistan politics
Tags: Asif Zardari, Pakistan, pakistan politics, President Zardari
Zardari may face fresh trouble, this time from family
Mar 19, 2009 pakistan politics
Islamabad, March 18: Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari’s ordeals appear far from over despite easing of the political crisis after the restoration of the deposed judges as he may now face the music from his own family.
International interviewer Daphne Barak, who was close to slain former premier Benazir Bhutto, has done an exclusive report on the “chaos in Pakistan” with Benazir’s sister Sanam Bhutto talking about “how much support the Bhuttos are giving, these days, to Benazir’s widower, President Asif Ali Zardari?,” says a post on her website.
International interviewer Daphne Barak, who was close to slain former premier Benazir Bhutto, has done an exclusive report on the “chaos in Pakistan” with Benazir’s sister Sanam Bhutto talking about “how much support the Bhuttos are giving, these days, to Benazir’s widower, President Asif Ali Zardari?,” says a post on her website.Though details of the interview have not been posted on Barak’s website, a media report suggested Zardari may face another crisis of credibility -– this time from his own family members.
“Even the chairman of PPP, Bilawal Zardari, at this young age, may have to come in public and support his beloved aunt Sanam Bhutto against his father’s claims of material and political inheritance of his (late) mother Benazir Bhutto,” The News daily reported while quoting sources close to Barak.
Sanam Bhutto spoke about her brother-in-law during the last weekend. Though the contents of the interview have not been revealed, a source close to Barak said: “Zardari, who was elected using his late wife’s legacy and the Bhutto family, would be embarrassed by Sanam Bhutto’s cold and determined disclosures.”
Tags: Asif Zardari, Pakistan, pakistan politics, PPP
Zardari and Sara Palin in Punjabi Dubbing
Nov 20, 2008 Videos, entertainment
This is the same video in which zardari passed comments I might hug but this time in Punjabi dubbing! funny!!!!
Tags: Asif Zardari, Pakistan, Palin, sara Palin
