Asif Zardari, parallel establishment and chants of “revolution”

President Asif Ali Zardari’s talk in the CEC meeting held on 4th February, 2011 has been quoted through various sources in The News and Jang. For the first time, it seems, there has been no bias or angling to what he apparently said. Why we say “apparently” is because this can only be verified by the party members there in the CEC meeting and we aren’t one of them attending the meeting.

There are a lot of people in our country who do not like President Zardari. He is the favorite punching bag and can be equated with “Amreeka of Pakistan”. From billion dollar deals to Rs. 500 bribes, everything can be associated with him. The matter of gullibility of our people is so mind boggling that they can believe anything that is told to them. A recent case being the “marriage of Asif Zardari”. One thing that people do not know about him or are not willing to believe is that he likes to consult a large number of people and believes in having “inclusive” management. By “inclusive” management it means, there are no one man decisions, contrary to what the media wants us to believe in. Had he been a one man show, he would have retained all the powers of 58-2B and others that Pervez Musharraf enjoyed as President.

If what has been reported in The News related to the CEC is true, then hats off to President Zardari for giving the nation an analogy and points for the Fake Civil Society to ponder. He said

When Benazir Bhutto was martyred, Mian Nawaz Sharif said to me that you can do a lot. Yes, I can invite the ‘revolution’ to destabilise everything but I did not do it as when there is a revolution, then it is led by others,”

Do we need to scratch our heads and wonder what the man has said to all those who want to have a revolution in the name of change of government? Another important thing that he pointed out was that

A parallel establishment destabilizes every government”.

Now who could be part of such a parallel government? Retired army men? Retired Super Bureaucrats? Remnants of Zia’s regime? Media men who get news fed to them, basically desktop journalists? Judges who like playing to the galleries? Civil Society members who chatter endlessly targeting political governments thereby inviting regime change?

And he was truthful to. He said

we provided him (Nawaz Sharif) the platform of the ARD (Alliance for Restoration of Democracy) and brought him out of political isolation”.

Off course, Nawaz Sharif and his party hawks will never admit this because they were never facilitated by the PPP. Had the PPP not given Kulsoom Nawaz the platform to use the ARD, would Nawaz Sharif and his family left under the Saudi Arabia sponsored NRO of December 2000.

The news report needs to be appreciated as there was no angling to it. But will our Civil Society appreciate and acknowledge what he said? Probably not and never!

‘Parallel establishment’ destabilises every govt: Zardari

by Asim Yasin

The News, February 5, 2011

ISLAMABAD: President Asif Ali Zardari sees a permanent establishment working parallel to the government with the only agenda to destabilise every government of the day.

“When Benazir Bhutto was martyred, Mian Nawaz Sharif said to me that you can do a lot. Yes, I can invite the revolution to destabilise everything but I did not do it as when there is a revolution, then it is led by others,” he said while addressing the PPP’s CEC meeting at the Presidency on Friday.

According to sources, in the two-hour-long meeting, summoned on a one-point agenda of seeking PPP CEC’s view on the planned dissolution of the cabinet, all the CEC members were on the same page and endorsed the decision.

Sources said the meeting started with the praise of President Asif Ali Zardari and ended at the same note and not a single dissenting voice was raised on any issue as everything was going in the right direction.

Sources said when a CEC member from Balochistan, Mir Baz Khetran, tried to complain against the ministers, Mian Raza Rabbani snubbed him, saying it was not the occasion to complaint as the cabinet was being dissolved.

Sources said Mir Baz Khetran complained that only a few ministers used to meet the party workers. Sources said Begum Abida Hussain was of the view that those people should be inducted into the cabinet who provided relief to the people rather than availing protocol as “we have to promote the culture of simple life”.

Sources said Sardar Assef Ahmed Ali said for him Pakistan was more important than being in the cabinet. Sources said Nawab Yusuf Talpur supported reduction in the cabinet size and complained that flood victims were still not rehabilitated.

Sources said Mian Manzoor Wattoo was all praise for President Zardari and said, “The nation is satisfied with your leadership to bring the country out of crisis”. Aitzaz Ahsan said the party stands with the president and it was time to give a new look and clean cabinet as it will give a good message to the people.

Sources said at one point during the meeting when Aitzaz Ahsan pointed out that the new cabinet ministers should be “clean”, President Zardari replied that he did not want to use this word as it was always used against Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, Benazir Bhutto and him.

Sources said President Asif Ali Zardari told the CEC that Bilawal Bhutto Zardari was no more a child and was now grown up. Zardari told the meeting that Bilawal was given a briefing on the investigation into the Benazir Bhutto case for five-long hours and he was on board.

Sources said President Zardari told the CEC about the BlackBerry (phone set) of Benazir Bhutto and said that it was non-functional and he did not want politics done on this. “I and my child did not allow anyone to let go the killers of Shaheed Benazir Bhutto,” he told the CEC meeting.

Sources said President Asif Ali Zardari told the meeting that Mian Nawaz Sharif should have confidence in the PPP as “we provided him the platform of the ARD and brought him out of political isolation”.

Sources said President Zardari said the PPP was not an extremist party but followed discipline. “We have taken revenge from history. I feel grieved as to why Farooq Leghari died so early as I wanted him to live and distribute the Benazir Income Support Cards to the people,” he told the PPP CEC meeting.

He said he also wished that General (retd) Pervez Musharraf should remain alive and contest the elections.

President Zardari said he knew that people were facing grave difficulties and there were concerns that the government’s relations with the IMF were not on track but he could assure the people that he had made alternative arrangements. “I am negotiating and the results will come out soon,” he added.

Sources said prior to the conclusion of the meeting, President Asif Ali Zardari also told the CEC that the party was ready for the next elections and on the basis of its performance, it will gain in the next Senate elections.

He said he wanted to be remembered in history as a person who did justice with the Constitution of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. He said he authorised the prime minister to dissolve the cabinet but prior to it there was a need for consultation with the coalition partners.

The president told the CEC that he did not believe in protocols as he came here to serve the people. “Where I am today, it is because of Shaheed Benazir Bhutto and I will not let her down”.

Sources said Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani thanked President Zardari for expressing complete confidence in him.

In his speech, he counted the achievements of the government and said despite lacking majority, the PPP managed to get 60 bills and two constitutional amendments passed from the National Assembly in three years.

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