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WikiLeaks reveal the mountains Mr Zardari had to scale as he pieced together a PPP government, writes Asha’ar Rehman. -AP Photo
The WikiLeaks have elicited no government investigation, no suo motu notice. But for those who care, they have achieved something bigger. They have agitated the political animals and if reputations are worth creating and protecting, WikiLeaks have enriched data reputation and images are built upon and broken.
There is the secular MQM which wants to be taken note of by the Americans. There is Maulana Fazlur Rahman who, perhaps inspired by rumours of US-Taliban parleys in Pakistan and Afghanistan, promotes himself as the prime minister of the country and advising the US not to put all its eggs in the PPP’s basket. There are the Sharifs who are let down by the Americans who they can contradict, and the Saudis who they can’t. And of course, there is Asif Ali Zardari.
I for one find it difficult to say if the cables enhance Mr Zardari’s reputation or detract from it. It is detraction if the desire is to see a would-be or sitting Pakistani president to hold its own against the Americans, even if as a client but as a client who knows his rights. It is enhancement if Mr Zardari is to be measured on the old scale of just how much sympathy he can generate. I know a few people out there dislike him. In my case, after going through the Leaks, I felt more sympathy for my president than I had ever done.
As the WikiLeaks helps recreate the scene, consider the mountains Mr Zardari had to scale as he pieced together a PPP government after the 2008 general election. His problems have been well documented by the cables the American envoys in Pakistan sent to Washington. One of these cables dating back to a day or two before the Feb 2008 polls spells out his preference for Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Qureshi as the prime minister of his party (Mr Zardari was duly advised against it given the chances of Mr Qureshi holding his own). In this message and others, he is seen pondering over his choices and Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani figures as more unlikely prime minister in these.
Mr Gilani’s name was far below Mr Qureshi’s and Aftab Shaban Mirani’s in a list of probables that in its original form had Mr Zardari on the top. He did wonder aloud about his own candidacy. It is unclear if he dropped out purely under advice of the then ISI chief Maj General Nadeem Taj or there were some other factors (as well) behind his decision. In any event, Mr Zardari appears to have been denied what he must have considered as his privilege as the head of the biggest political party.
In a cable belonging to the period soon after his Murree declaration along with Nawaz Sharif, Mr Zardari displays his knowledge of Pakistan’s political history when he says that 30 days could often extend to 80 or 90 in the country. As he speaks in the context of the pledge he had made to Mr Sharif to restore the judiciary in a month, it is here that he escapes the pale of a sympathetic analysis and offers himself for a scrutiny by those wanting to judge a politician on the basis of his political guile. But such diversions are momentary and before long the right course is rediscovered.
The WikiLeaks confirms the names of a couple of men Mr Zardari felt duty-bound to protect. One of them was a general by the name of Pervez Musharraf while the other was Abdul Hameed Dogar who Musharraf had chosen as his chief judge after deposing Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry and many of his colleagues on the bench. Mr Zardari, as a president who would have been a prime minister, appears to be lacking in the powers worthy of his high office as he fails to honour the promise he had made to these two gentlemen. In the bargain, he gets a few more sympathetic gasps out of the forever sympathetic folks like yours truly.
The feeling turns to that of protest if not of outright grief as another cable in the Dawn-WikiLeaks Pakistan Papers collection has Mr Zardari complaining how arch rival Nawaz Sharif felt no threat to his life from the militants. Not only this, he is actually quoted as telling a US envoy that he was broke and couldn’t even pay his private guards.
That is one image to have for a very watchful politician who is so eager about public perceptions that, again according on the authority of a WikiLeaks cable, he had once asked his party’s MPs to sacrifice their expensive wrist watches and sport cheaper versions more in sync with the times.
A tick equal to the value of a tickle or a bit too ticklish than that – have your pick. But with growing, overpowering sympathy, to me it was an innocent attempt at keeping your wards under your watch.
Asha’ar Rehman is Dawn’s resident editor in Lahore.
Hope it's all worth.
GOD never helps those who dont help themselves.Rise Pakistan its high time we take destiny in our own hands like Tunisia,Egypt,Libia…And rise now,rise in ones ,tens,hundreds,thousands,hundreds thousands…..
I only know one thing:
It is of extreme shame and a point of disgust particularly on part of Pakistani Govt. and generally for the whole nation of which the consequences could be severe for time to come.
Since Pakistani leadership has failed (continuous failure since its inception) domestically and internationally – Pakistani people are fed up of this Govt. (due to all the reasons as all know, no need to explain) and now in the whole scenario of Osama Bin Laden’s dramatic fall, the al-qaeda attack on PNS Mehran, the extra judicial killing of innocent youth at the open streets in the broad day light, the specific top Pakistani leadership should immediately resign (as already demanded by “Shah Mehmood Qureishi & Chawdhary Nisar Ahmed”). I am ashamed of Pakistani people’s silently obeying the suppression and tyranny of the Govt. as well as fooling of its people with all domestic and international policies.
If they do not resign with respect and honor, I urge Pakistani opposition leaders and whole nation to wake up and stand up and start agitation against the Govt. and let them go the Hosni Mubarak way.
We would never understand who the actual hero is!
because we don't want to listen to positivities of anyone.
Good work.
Well written article, and whatever the media says about how AZ handled his public image during floods or the OBL incidence, its a fairly difficult job that AZ has done uptill now i.e. keeping the government intact. These are in fact difficult times and governing with the Troika (Govt, Army & Judiciary) intact is commendable.
Interesting to see Mr Zardari's sympathisers trying to justify his role. However the article is based on conjecture and I am not sure how the author manages to sympathise with the dirty dealings done for the sake of purely obtaining power with no intention of serving the people.
@Author
your standards for good president appear to be quite low.
What emerges from the Wikileaks as common to Zardari and Nawaz Sharif is their obsessive-compulsiveness to gab incessantly without any realisation whatsoever as to whose purpose was being served by revealing their inner most thoughts or tentative plans to their American interlocuters, be it the US Ambassador or or a junior official from the local US Consulate. This reveals their innate inferiority complex and insecurities and exposes their emotional, psychological and political immaturity as well as abysmal ignorance of the basic rule of diplomatic interchange that it involves a give and take. In their blissful ignorance, the Pakistani worthies were invariably giving away the family silver without anything of value in return, except ex post facto ignominy
i dont know why are our leaders behaving so immaturely, there is no doubt that they are incompetent but FORGOD sake even is a cart vendor is made to rule, he would know at least some politics and diplomacy, the worst thing is for us ,,self comes first, so we are destined to insult.
The writer suggests that the Pakistani politicians are always 'truthful' with their US counterparts. Any evidence?????????????
I am confident that WikiLeaks cables are authentic. However;it is difficult to confirm the authenticity of this article. Every writer can manipulate the cables to advance his/her own agenda
and it may be the case here.
Good jod done but i dont agree
Without fully agreeing or disagreeing I must say, it was brilliantly done piece. Thanks for sharing your views/analysis.
These broken one's & worried for people politics mongers has brought the State at this juncture….Can we people understand is the main problem??
The information in Wikileaks are treated by serious persons as "electronic rumours" only. The information is unsigned and not owned by any one. American actions like Bin Laden remain totally secret, but their confidential diplomatic cables get leaked word by word! It is dificult to accept this contradiction.
Biggest joke being NS claiming he is broke. Well good riddance, sell Raiwind to generate some cash.
This is not about NS, but AAZ.
It was AZ who said I'm broke not NS.
Read this cable,
http://www.dawn.com/2011/05/27/2008-zardari-claim…