by AAKAR PATEL
It is easy to feel admiration and not a little respect for President Asif Zardari, who turns 57 this week.
Like Manmohan Singh, he rarely allows himself to be interviewed by his own media because journalism on the subcontinent is quite poor. And so, while there is much reported about him, and rightly, his defence is rarely taken up.
Let’s look at him as he enters the most difficult period of his tenure.
Zardari’s official website says that after school he “further pursued his education in London where he studied Business”. This is the subcontinental code for “attended some sort of institution but couldn’t get a degree”, so clearly he didn’t pursue it well.
There’s no shame in this and it doesn’t preclude a successful career in our politics. Not a single member of the Nehru-Gandhi family was able to graduate from college between Jawaharlal Nehru (who passed from Trinity College in 1910) and Rahul Gandhi in 1994. In these eight decades, two generations of the dynasty studied and flunked. Indira failed in Oxford and Rajiv failed in Cambridge. Child prodigy Sanjay could not even clear high school. Widows Sonia and Maneka passed school, but married early and never attended college. Priyanka graduated around the same time as Rahul.
Zardari may not have academic skills or interests, but he is first rate at understanding problems. Like all Indian prime ministers since 1991, he has been in power without a parliamentary majority for his party. But he has been skilful at playing with a poor hand. He is like one of the later Mughals who had to use tact and guile rather than force, which was unavailable to them. Like those hapless royals, he heads a state with expenses far in excess of revenue and a military not entirely in his control.
Even so, he has weathered more crises than any Pakistani leader: memogate, NRO, Raymond Davis, judges’ restoration, CIA, drone strikes, energy shortage, corruption in this cabinet, an aggressive Supreme Court and an aggressive media. And he has done this without losing his cool or exhibiting signs of distress.
The Express Tribune for more
(Thanks to Robin Khundkar. His note: “Guaranteed to burst Pakistan Military’s and middle class’s gut and get so apoplectic in fury that their eyeballs will pop! Without endorsing the article or Mr. Zardari, a much needed corrective!”)