Asif Zardari Again

Chehra WebDesk

11:08 2024, 12 March
Asif Zardari Again

Ishak Soomro

Asif Ali Zardari is the first civilian president of Pakistan who was elected president for the second time with an overwhelming majority, he is also the first Pakistani president born after the establishment of Pakistan. 69-year-old President Asif Ali Zardari hails from Fatuhal Zardari, a small village in Shaheed Benazirabad Nawabshah's tehsil Skarand district. His grandfather Muhammad Hussain Zardari was a monogamous businessman and small landowner and also a local Muslim League leader. Were

Asif Ali Zardari was born on September 9, 1955 in the family of landowner and businessman Hakim Ali Zardari. For 32 years, Asif Ali Zardari lived a pampered and loved life as the only son of his father.

In 1987, with the consent of his relatives, he married Benazir Bhutto, which lasted for twenty years, which ended with Benazir Bhutto's sudden death in 2007. During these twenty years, Asif Ali Zardari spent eleven years in prison. And spent four years in exile in Dubai, and about five years in the Prime Minister's House.

His journey of ups and downs with politics began with his marriage to Benazir Bhutto after the age of 32. In his youth, he was fond of polo, horse riding and was not fond of hunting. His father, Hakim Ali Zardari, was first married to Bilqis Begum, a woman from a well-educated family, who was the granddaughter of Hasan Ali Effendi, a prominent political and social leader of Sindh, the founder of Sindh Madrasah-e-Salam Karachi. On the insistence of his wife, Hakim Ali Zardari left his village Skarund and came to Karachi and started the business of building cinemas and big buildings along with construction.

Meanwhile, Asif Ali Zardari also played the role of a child actor in the film "Salgarh" with the well-known actor Waheed Murad at the age of eleven. His father, Hakim Ali Zardari, started politics along with business, which was the reason why Syed Shabir Ahmad Shah, father of the current Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly, Syed Ghulam Mustafa Shah, was defeated on the ticket of Pakistan Peoples Party for the first time in the 1970 election. He was elected as a member of the National Assembly.

Asif Ali Zardari, who passed the matriculation examination from Cadet College Petaro, has become a member of the National Assembly five times, a member of the Senate of Pakistan and the President of Pakistan for the second time. His political activism began in 1989 after the failure of the no-confidence motion against Benazir Bhutto.

In the 1990 elections, for the first time, Beazir Bhutto made him successful from the National Assembly seat from Lyari area of Karachi.

Presidents in Pakistan have been either powerful or weak and powerless like Fazal-e-Ahi Chaudhry, Rafiq Tarar, who preferred to see their benefactors illegally removed by military dictators but did not dare to resign. A disloyal president like Farooq Leghari sided with the establishment and overthrew his own benefactor, Benazir. On the other hand, military president Ayub Khan, General Yahya, General Zia and General Musharraf have been the most powerful presidents in history.

These generals did not leave their posts with honor and dignity, the country had a scheming bureaucrat like Ghulam Ishaq Khan as president who trampled democracy thrice. Asif Ali Zardari knew that the Presidential Palace in Islamabad was a difficult place. It has a reputation as a place of intrigue.

He decided that it was better for him to remain in such a position, which could face conspiracies. At that time, asif Zardari submitted his form for the post of President, there was a storm of propaganda against him. Done, when the media that a well-known journalist asked the military to intervene to stop the presidential election

When Asif Zardari became the president of Pakistan, he made many unusual decisions in his political life, including giving provincial autonomy through the eighteenth constitutional amendment in 2010, ending his presidential powers and giving them to the parliament, appointing the army chief. Including giving to the Prime Minister. He overturned General Musharraf's constitutional amendment through which Mian Nawaz Sharif became the Prime Minister of Pakistan for the second time. He introduced a new culture in the country by giving rights to small provinces, renaming the border province Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and a policy of reconciliation with all political parties and institutions.

Making him the first civilian president of Pakistan to complete his five-year term, he preferred to be the ceremonial president. On May 22, 2013, the Presidency signed an agreement with the Prime Minister of China on the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). He replied that you could have taken me to the ambulance from the President's House.

During his presidency, he wrote an article about the death of Osama bin Laden in the world's largest newspaper, the Washington Post, in which he said that Osama bin Laden was the greatest evil of this century. Given the manner in which justice was meted out to those oppressed, it is reassuring that his death is both personal and political for me. Indeed, these same elements killed Benazir Bhutto.

US President Bush, while talking to reporters on his presidential plane while going from Iraq to Afghanistan, revealed that when I called Pakistani President Zardari "Do More", he looked into my eyes and said, Children, hit my wife. Can I have a soft spot for them?

Today, when Asif Ali Zardari is once again in the same presidential position after 16 years, although today's economic, geopolitical and internal problems are different, there are more challenges than ever for Asif Zardari, who was elected with a large mandate. For the prosperity of the country, issues like making an economic agreement, improving the conditions of Balochistan, terrorism on the borders, taking all political parties together are important for them.

Along with this, to ensure full implementation of the 18th Amendment, elimination of grievances of small provinces, settlement of problems with neighboring countries especially India on the basis of equality, immediate implementation of CPEC projects, coordination among provinces. Asif Ali Zardari will play his role. Because he has always said that democracy is the best revenge, I would rather live in history than in the headlines.