Mr ten percent becomes the President of Pakistan once again!

Asif Ali Zardari became the first President of Pakistan to complete a full five-year term in office in 2008.

3
1045

X: @the_news_21

As expected, Asif Ali Zardari has been elected as the President of Pakistan for a second term. He defeated his rival Mehmood Khan Achajki in the election held on Saturday for the post by a resounding margin of 230 votes. Zardari got 411 votes, while Achajki got 181 votes.

TheNews21 was the first in the world to predict that Asif Ali Sardari would become the President immediately after the results of the general elections. We also predicted that Shehbaz Sharif will become the Prime Minister. Both these predictions have come true today.

A political deadlock was created in Pakistan due to the emergence of a hung National Assembly after the general elections. Pakistan Muslim League (Pakistan Muslim League – Nawaz, PML-N) and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) came together to solve this deadlock. Sharif and Zardari have been elected to these two top most important positions according to the agreement reached between them.

If we want to understand how democracy has been turned into a laughing stock in Pakistan, we have to look at the election of Zardari. In the last 75 years since the creation of Pakistan, only four presidents have been democratically elected and completed their five-year terms. At other times the power of Pakistan was in the hands of army chiefs. Zardari is the first leader to be elected as President for the second time.

Like any other Pakistani leader, Zardari’s career has also been full of controversies. He was also jailed for four years for the murder of his own brother-in-law. He has always been accused of corruption and inefficiency.

Zardari was born in 1955 in a rich Baloch family of Sindh province. But it was only after his marriage to Benazir Bhutto (Benazir Bhutto) in 1987 that she had inherited her political legacy from her father. She later became the first woman Prime Minister of Pakistan. Benazir’s tenure as prime minister also saw Zardari’s fortunes take an upswing. Zardari was a minister in both of Benazir’s cabinets. He served first as Minister for Environment and then second time as Minister for Investment.

Zardari was arrested in 1990 for forcing a businessman to withdraw money from a bank by tying a bomb to his leg. He was imprisoned for three years. However, the allegations against him were never proved. Just six years later, after Benazir Bhutto’s government was overthrown, Zardari came into the limelight once again. He was accused of murdering his own brother-in-law Murtaza Bhutto and he was once again sent to prison. He remained in prison for eight years. He got out on bail in 2004 and was acquitted in the case in the next four years.

Sometimes destiny plays very strange games. When Benazir was assassinated in 2007, Zardari was aloof from politics. The following year, the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) won the general election, once again Zardari’s fortunes blossomed. He was directly elected as the 11th President of Pakistan in 2008. After being imprisoned for 11 years, Zardari became the constitutional head of Pakistan. Zardari’s first term as president was controversial. While working as a minister in Benazir Bhutto’s cabinet he was nicknamed ‘Mr 10 Percent’.

His working style was such that he would not do any work without taking a ten percent commission. Even after becoming President for the first time, his style of functioning did not change much. He was yet again accused of corruption. After stepping down from the presidency, he was also jailed for six months in a corruption case. He however did one good work worth mentioning during his tenure. He made provisions in the law for providing severe punishment for acid attack on women.

Asif Ali Zardari became the first President of Pakistan to complete a full five-year term in office in 2008. Now that he gets his second chance now in 2024. It will be important to see if he completes his tenure, stays away from corruption, gets along with the Prime Minister and most importantly, if he can instil faith about democracy in the Pakistani people.

Also Read: Pakistan is under severe economic crisis, needs a resilient FM to pull it out of the economic rut

3 COMMENTS

  1. I have not checked in here for a while because I thought it was getting boring, but the last few posts are great quality so I guess I will add you back to my daily bloglist. You deserve it my friend 🙂

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here