Asif Zardari's tale in public life in Pakistan is something people can be envious of.
He has been now elected as the president of Pakistan for the second time.
The role of President is largely ceremonial in Pakistan but Zardari is known as a master of reconciliation and could help the governing coalition partners reach a consensus to steer the broken economy on a stabilisation path ahead of seeking a new IMF bailout, says a Reuters report.
Asif Ali Zardari, the co-chairperson of the Pakistan Peoples Party, was the joint candidate of the ruling alliance of the PPP and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N). During his earlier stint when he was President of Pakistan in 2008, Zardari hit headlines when it was claimed that following 26/11, India's the then foreign minister Pranab Mukherjee had threatened him over phone.
Obviously Pranab Mukherjee was furious and and he -as expected - had thundered in Lok Sabha. He also issued a detailed statement.
The Dawn newspaper had reported that Pakistan put its military on alert after a person pretending to be external affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee made a call to Pakistan president Asif Ali Zardari on November 28 threatening military action.
Nevertheless, Zardari is now President of Pakistan yet again. About his personal track record, one should say in 1988, after his wife Benazir Bhutto was elected Pakistan’s first woman prime minister, Zardari landed in PM House, and quickly went to work turning around his personal fortunes.
"It wasn’t long before Ms Bhutto’s first government was mired in scandals of all shades and sizes. It was during this time that Mr Zardari earned the title of ‘Mr 10 per cent", says a piece in Pakistani newspaper 'Dawn' yet again. The 'Dawn' article also says --
"In the chaos of Pakistan’s politics, none has climbed the ladder higher or more successfully than Mr Zardari. He has been thrown off again and again, yet refused to let his falls break him".
He (Zardari) has seized every opportunity to play the game, and "won it with an unlikely hand too many times".
"The young Mr Zardari was a notorious playboy who often ended up in brawls at Karachi’s casinos. He was known for his then-famous father, Hakim Ali Zardari, who had been elected as an MNA on a PPP ticket to Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s first assembly. The two were said to be close at one time, but fell out at some stage, following which the elder Zardari had exited the PPP. At one time, both father and son supported the anti-Bhutto alliance," says the piece.
Even his rivals acknowledge that Mr Zardari is a deal-maker par excellence. He has been written off and made a comeback so many times that his doubters have simply stopped trying.
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