Bhutto’s widower wins Pakistan’s presidency
Posted on Sunday, September 7, 2008
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Asif Ali Zardari, the widower of assassinated former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, was elected president of Pakistan on Saturday by a wide margin.
Zardari, 53, who spent 11 years in jail on corruption charges that remain unproved, succeeds Pervez Musharraf, who resigned last month under the threat of impeachment. Zardari is expected to be sworn in Monday or Tuesday, Pakistani officials said.
He has promised a tougher fight against Taliban and al-Qaida extremists ensconced in the nation’s tribal areas, where they mount attacks on American and NATO troops fighting in Afghanistan.
His election coincides with a stepped-up effort by the United States to root out the Taliban and al-Qaida from tribal areas. American commandos attacked militants in a village near the Afghan border Wednesday, in what American military officials said could be a continuing campaign in Pakistan’s tribal region.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said she was looking forward to working with Zardari.
“I’ve been impressed by some of the things he has said about the challenges that Pakistan faces, about the centrality of fighting terrorism, about the fact that the terrorism fight is Pakistan’s fight and also his very strong words of friendship and alliance with the United States,” Rice told reporters on a trip to North Africa.
Zardari becomes president amid Pakistan’s difficulties in battling the militants, who now virtually control the tribal areas. On Saturday, a suicide bomber killed at least 14 people and wounded dozens at a police checkpoint near Peshawar.
Unofficial results from voting in the two houses of Parliament and four provincial assemblies showed that Zardari, the leader of the Pakistan Peoples Party, won 479 of 702 votes. His closest competitor, Saeeduz Zaman Siddiqui, of the Pakistan Muslim League-N, won ™ votes, and a third candidate, Mushahid Hussain Syed, received 43 votes. The results were expected to be certified by the Election Commission.
Pro-Zardari lawmakers, some in tears, shouted “Long live Bhutto !” as the vote tallies came in.
After Bhutto was killed in December, Zardari became the leader of the Pakistan People’s Party, which was founded by Bhutto’s father, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, and is considered to be almost a cult of the Bhutto dynasty.
Zardari led the party to victory in a parliamentary election Feb. 18 and formed a coalition with Nawaz Sharif, the leader of the Pakistan Muslim League-N.
That coalition collapsed last month amid recriminations over the reinstatement of some 60 judges fired by Musharraf when he imposed emergency rule in November.
In a sign of conciliation, Sharif telephoned Zardari on Saturday to congratulate him on his victory and pledge his support, according to television accounts of the call.
The White House also issued a statement Saturday. “The United States congratulates Asif Ali Zardari on his election as president,” said Gordon Johndroe, a White House spokesman. “President Bush looks forward to working with him, Prime Minister Gilani and the government of Pakistan on issues important to both countries, including counterterrorism and making sure Pakistan has a stable and secure economy.” Zardari’s aides have promised that as president, Zardari would agree to the elimination of a constitutional provision that allows the president to dismiss Parliament, long considered a weak institution.
The minister of information, Sherry Rehman, a senior member of the Pakistan People’s Party, said the relationship between the presidency and Parliament would be better balanced under Zardari, resulting in a “new era of democratic stability.” Rehman added, “Today, every Pakistani can raise his head with pride.” After the vote, Zardari spoke briefly on the lawn of the prime minister’s residence. He shook hands with supporters and well-wishers gathering for a dinner Saturday in the residence’s gardens. Flanked by his two teenage daughters, Bakhtawar and Asifa, Zardari said he would uphold the democratic philosophy of Bhutto.
“Parliament will be sovereign,” he said. “This president shall be subservient to the parliament.” He also rejected criticism that he would be a divisive leader and took a swipe at Musharraf.
“To those who would say that the People’s Party or the presidency would be controversial under our guardianship, under our stewardship, I would say listen to democracy,” he said.
In the Aabpara market in Islamabad, some storekeepers viewed Zardari’s victory as a foregone conclusion.
Several men said it was good for Pakistan to have a president and a prime minister from the same political party, reflecting the official line of the Pakistan People’s Party. “He can be a good president because the whole party is behind him,” said Malik Zahoor, 50.
But some vendors said they believed the corruption charges against Zardari made him unsuitable for the presidency.
“He’s a certified thief,” said Akhlaq Abbasi, 60, the owner of a fabric and tailoring shop.
A checkpoint near Peshawar, the main city of the Talibanplagued northwest, suffered the latest in a string of deadly suicide attacks.
Officials and witnesses said a pickup packed with explosives demolished the police security checkpoint on the edge of the city Saturday, killing at least 30 people, including five police officers, and injuring dozens more.
Television footage showed a blast crater 3 feet deep, destroyed vehicles and pieces of debris scattered across a large area. Officials said many people were trapped under the rubble of two collapsed buildings in a nearby market. Civilians dug frantically with their hands in hopes of finding survivors.
No one immediately claimed responsibility. In recent weeks, however, the Pakistani Taliban have said they carried out a string of suicide bombings they called revenge for military offensives in the northwest region, which borders Afghanistan.
Nasirulmulk Bangash, a top police official in the area, said the vehicle carried at least 330 pounds of explosives — an amount he called “unprecedented” — and was apparently en route to Peshawar, the capital of the North West Frontier province.
He said the large quantity of explosives indicated the attack was aimed at a more important target than the small checkpoint, but might have been tripped up by high security on election day. Bangash did not speculate on what the intended target might have been.
Peshawar police chief Muhammad Suleman said the death toll was likely to rise as rescue teams continue to dig. Information for this article was contributed by Jane Perlez and Salman Masood of The New York Times; and by Munir Ahmad, Nahal Toosi, Asif Shahzad, Riaz Khan, Ashraf Khan, Babar Dogar, Paisley Dodds and Matthew Lee of The Associated Press.
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