The screaming headlines of certain Pakistani newspapers and prophecies by the some participants of TV talk shows suggest that President Asif Ali Zardari must quit the president house---dead or alive.
Such demands are outrageous as President Zardari has not done anything for which he should be kicked out of the office before completing his term. On the contrary, Mr. Zardari is the only President in the history of Pakistan who has demonstrated an extreme level of tolerance in the face of a brutal character assignation campaign that is full of smear and slender. Orchestrated by discredited politicians and a section of the media the campaign seems to have no limits.
A self-proclaimed largest media group of Pakistan , the Jang and the Geo TV, positions itself as the custodian of democracy and press freedom. It is hypocrisy. Throughout the General Zia-ul-Haq’s Islamic dictatorship, the Jang group supported the dictator. I started my career as a journalist from Daily Jang’s Peshawar bureau in the 1980s. At that time the Jang group was the main beneficiary of government-controll ed advertisement. News and articles were censored and the pro-democracy groups were presented negatively. We were told not to oppose the military government policies. In fact the Jang group has been using journalism to promote its business interests and when a government or a leader refuses to bow to the pressure of this media group, it lunches character assassination campaigns like the one that has targeted President Zardari.
No wonder that the majority of ‘crying babies’ on our TV screens and on the newspaper pages work with daily Jang and Geo TV. Some of these ‘crying babies’ were trained by Jamat-i-Islami, others by the military establishment, especially intelligence agencies of Pakistan . Consequently, the so-called ‘independent’ journalists only target politicians.
Military, judiciary, religious parties and the media have done greater harm to Pakistan but they are untouchable. Patriotism is a business in which military and its secret services, mullahs and a section of the media are partners. It is them who decide if one is patriotic or not. In 1970, the military and Jamat-i-Islami invented an ‘ideology of Pakistan ’. It was based on a distorted interpretation of Islam. The ‘ideology of Pakistan ’ also provided reasons for the creation of the country. Till date, this ‘ideology’ is a standard against which one’s loyalty to Pakistan is measured.
President Zardari’s father-in-law prime minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto ‘failed’ the test of loyalty under the manufactured ideology of Pakistan as a result the military hanged him with the collaboration of Jamat-i-Islami. Same is true for Bhutto’s daughter and Mr. Zardari’s wife, Benazir Bhutto, who was a security threat in the eyes of the military and its allies in the media and politics. Ms Bhutto was killed near the GHQ (military’s headquarters) in Rawalpindi in the daylight. Circumstances suggest that the murder of Benazir may have the blessing of the some in the GHQ. From the stand point of the military and the crying babies’ of the media, President Zardari is guilty because he is committing the same crimes.
Regardless of what military, mullahs and some in the media think of President Zardari, it is a fact that since assuming the office of the President, 15 months ago, Mr. Zardari has promoted reconciliation and forgiveness in a divided society where political disagreements amount to bloody feuds. Mr. Zardari was victimized for 11 years by his political opponents such as former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, who initiated false cases against Mr. Zardari, however, the President has not sent no one to prison because he/she disagreed with the President or criticized him.
Mr. Zardari is the only president who was elected with a clear majority in the National Assembly, Senate and in all the provincial assemblies. He represents the federation legally, really and truly. He is the first president who agreed to give NWFP a name. There was no horse-trading in the Senate elections, a routine in the Pakistani politics since 1985. From Gilget-Bultistan to Baluchistan and from the signing of the NFC Award to the elimination of the Kalabagh Dam project, all signs indicate that at last the process of bridge building has started in Pakistan and winds of reconciliation can blow in this country. But some do not feel comfortable perhaps peace and stability is not in their interest. Perhaps this is the reason that the ever smiling, humble and modest Mr. Zardari is presented as a monster, an evil person who has no moral right to be the President of Pakistan.
Mr. Zardari was a faithful and responsible husband who stood by his wife (Benazir Bhutto) in all weathers and at all times and yet in the media he is depicted as reckless and irresponsible. The ‘crying babies’ on TV and their counterparts in the print media imply, in a subtle way, that Mr. Zardari is somehow linked to the murder of Benazir Bhutto and that he has found the death of Ms Bhutto an opportunity to hijack the Pakistan People’s Party. Well, Ms Bhutto’s children are grown ups. My daughter Saba is only 14-year-old and she lives in the UK . I have observed that Saba and her friends have an excellent understanding of human relationships. They are intelligent enough to detect if there is a problem between their parents and, if so, who should be blamed for the trouble in the family.
If Mr. Zardari was a ‘bad guy’, as the ‘crying babies’ want us to believe, Ms Bhutto’s children would have avoided him. Instead, after the tragic death of Ms Bhutto, all the three children are even closer to their father. They use every opportunity to appear in the public with Mr. Zardari to show how much they love and respect him. If Balawal, Asifa and (name to be added) had a slight doubt about the love and dedication of Mr. Zardari towards their mother they would never gather around him. But the ‘crying babies’ on TV and the likes of them in the print media of Pakistan cannot see the true love between a father and his children. May be the ‘crying babies’ are saddest who take pleasure from inflicting pain. When Ms Bhutto’s brother Mir Murtaza was killed the same saddest had blamed Benazir and Asif for the murder of Murtaza.
But Benazir and Asif’s children are mature enough. They are well-aware that those minds, which plotted the killing of their mother, uncles and grandfather, the same killers, are now after their father and indeed anyone who wants to bring the power back to the people of Pakistan .
May be we should not blame the ‘crying babies’ for their hateful behavior. Perhaps these men in suits, who appear on our television screens as commentators and intellectuals, are victims of religious and ethnic hatred that has destroyed peace and harmony in Pakistan since the unlawful removal of the prime minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto in 1977.
