A record-setting presidency

Zardari’s term as president will come to an end today when president-elect Mamnoon Husain takes his oath of office. Zardari will then become the first democratically elected president in the country’s history to complete the five-year tenure laid down by the constitution. This record of sorts has been touted by some as a major ‘achievement’ of Zardari’s presidency. Yet, the truth is that it was not because of Zardari, but in spite of him,that democracy was not ‘derailed’ during the five years that he was in office.

If Zardari were to be judged on his performance and that of governments installed by him at the centre, he would in fact be found to have forfeited all moral right to continue in office long before his constitutional term finished. The list of his failings and shenanigans is long. Suffice it to say that the management of the economy during this period was atrocious; the scale of officially sponsored or tolerated corruption was unprecedented; the number of innocent persons who became victims of violence multiplied; poor governance or sheer lack of governance was rampant; and the erosion of public confidence in the institutions of state was at an all-time high. These ills did not start under Zardari but their scale under his watch was truly record-setting. He himself led the field with his refusal to answer corruption charges and his persistent defiance of the Supreme Court.

This record is abysmal by any standard. But it is a sign of the people’s faith in democracy and in the supremacy of the constitution that they refused to countenance any extra-constitutional steps to rid the country of a thoroughly discredited government and a deeply tainted president. The military too seems to have learned some lessons from the popular movement that led to Musharraf’s ouster five years ago.

While there might still be a few in the top brass who harbour ideas of a political role for the military, the army as an institution has now distanced itself from such adventurist thinking and would like the democratic institutions of the country to take deeper root and be strengthened. The threat to democracy comes now not from the army, but from the venality and incompetence of the political class.

Zardari’s biggest feat, it has been said, was that he gave the 18th Amendment to the country, under which the 1973 constitution was restored in its original shape and the provinces received enhanced provincial autonomy. In his farewell speech for Zardari, Nawaz too gave him credit for this achievement.

Zardari would indeed have merited some praise for restoring the parliamentary form of government, were it not for the fact that even after the 18th Amendment he kept virtually all executive powers in his own hands, making a mockery of the constitution. The two prime ministers he installed were mere dummies, much like in Musharraf’s days.

The other main feature of the 18th Amendment for which Zardari claims kudos was the enhancement of provincial autonomy and an increase in the provincial share of tax proceeds collected by the federal government. This step was long overdue. But it was accompanied by a blanket abolition of the ‘concurrent list’.

As a result, the federation today has no say in policy-making on such vital matters as education, health, labour standards and environmental protection, all of which are of key importance in a country’s socio-economic development. Those who took this step – and that includes both Zardari and Nawaz – clearly lacked the capacity to foresee the harmful long-term consequences of what they were doing and now lack either the courage, the good sense or the honesty to admit that they made an egregious blunder.

Zardari is also sometimes credited with possessing extraordinary political skills for having kept together a political coalition that kept him in power while holding the opposition at bay for a full term despite his own deep personal unpopularity. Crafty and unscrupulous as he is, his method was in fact quite simple and can be summed up in one word: ‘reconciliation’, not in its ordinary dictionary meaning but in the twisted sense in which it is used in National Reconciliation Ordinance.

As practised by Zardari, the policy of ‘reconciliation’ essentially meant giving every actual or potential political ally a chance to plunder the state coffers and get away with it. Zardari’s defiance of the Supreme Court’s orders in the Geneva money-laundering case was a cue for others to make the most of the opportunities that came their way to enrich themselves. NAB became a dysfunctional organisation and the promised new law on accountability never saw the light of day.

The tax cheats, electricity and gas thieves and other parasites who roam in the corridors of power and populate our legislatures had nothing to fear as long as Zardari was sitting in the presidency. We do not know how much income tax he himself paid to the Pakistani state. But we can be sure that he has been taking every care to pay every penny of his tax liability to the foreign countries where most of his wealth is stashed.

Zardari also set another dubious record. According to the foreign ministry, he made 93 foreign trips during his presidency, 25 of them to Dubai. Besides, there were other visits that do not figure in the ministry’s record – mostly to Dubai. Also, if the total duration of Zardari’s overseas sojourns is tallied, that will be another record.

Many of these visits were purely private. Nevertheless, the expenses on private visits were also paid by the Pakistani taxpayer. This is a matter that the National Assembly’s Public Accounts Committee ought to look into. But that is unlikely to happen, given the fact that overseas travel at state expense is jealously guarded by our parliamentarians as a cherished fundamental right.

Zardari’s days of glory in the presidency are now history but Zardari is not. The time for writing his political obituary has not come yet. The two main questions now are: (a) whether legal proceedings against him for alleged corruption, which now stand revived, will be seriously pursued; and (b) what role he will have in the future politics of the country.

The fate of the six cases pending against Zardari in accountability courts in Pakistan might depend largely upon how seriously and vigorously NAB pursues the matter. Not surprisingly, the PPP has been obstructing the appointment of a new NAB chief that could spell trouble for the party’s co-chairman.

The ‘Swiss case’ is a different story. In a meeting with the press last Wednesday, Zardari cryptically said that he would face it as he had done in the past. Somewhat oddly, he did not claim, as Farooq Naek did last year, that the case had lapsed under the Swiss statute of limitation. The Geneva authorities would be understandably reluctant to revive the matter after so much to-ing and fro-ing by our government. But they could overcome their hesitation if the Nawaz government provides a convincing explanation and especially if it can provide some new facts.

As for Zardari’s political future, there can be no doubt that he would remain the head of the PPP till he can confidently pass on the baton to Bilawal. That might take a long time. But until Zardari can clear himself of corruption charges, he might follow the prudent course and stay abroad.

A bigger question is whether the PPP will ever be able to recover from the heavy battering it received in the May elections, which reduced it to a regional party representing the class interests of the large land-owners of Sindh. The chances of its ever again becoming a national party spanning all four provinces look grim at present. Nevertheless, Zardari alone cannot be held responsible for that bleak prospect. The blame must be shared by many party stalwarts who chose to advance their personal political careers by joining the circle of Zardari’s courtiers and sycophants rather than building up a party with a clear future-oriented programme.

The writer is a former member of the Pakistan Foreign Service.Email: asifezdi@yahoo.com