Shahzad Memon
Asif Ali Zardari’s opponents are used to making various allegations against him, if the bulb of an opponent’s house is fused, it is obvious that he will blame it on President Asif Ali Zardari and his party, Pakistan People’s Party. He is convinced to give honor and respect to even his worst opponents but his opponents don’t mince words while criticizing and targeting him. Imran Khan openly says that Asif Ali Zardari is my target. Imran Khan strongly believes that if Asif Ali Zardari wanted, he could have stayed in the Prime Minister’s House more and it is Asif Ali Zardari who made the no-confidence motion against his government successful. This is an allegation against President Asif Ali Zardari which is 100% correct as it is the PPP and the President Asif Ali Zardari who removed the PM Imran Khan from his office through a VONC.
But the question arises, why did Asif Ali Zardari do this? Did he not know that Imran Khan has emptied the national treasury and has been trying to get a loan from the IMF for several consecutive months so that a few months will pass, for which the Imran Khan government had also put the autonomy of the SBP at stake. Did Asif Ali Zardari not know all these things, despite knowing all this he successfully got the then opposition to table a vote of no confidence against the Imran government? Asif Ali Zardari has faced all kinds of situations in politics for the last 40 years. He knows well how is it difficult to control a government facing financial issues but still why did he have to remove Imran khan from power?
President Zardari was well aware of the affairs of the state but why did he have to swallow such a bitter pill? A person who has been the President of Pakistan, a federal minister whose wife has held the office of Prime Minister twice, how is it possible that he does not know that the economic condition of the country which is not easy to handle and yet that person is bent on forming the government of himself and the coalition parties and finally ends Imran’s power.
Knowing that replacing Imran Khan and forming the government would mean bearing the brunt of his wrong policies and taking the destruction caused by the wrong decisions of his government. Due to this strategy, the people seem to be cursing the ruling parties, blaming the current government for the economic crises of the country. But once again the question arises in the mind that why did President Asif Ali Zardari do it?
Asif Ali Zardari was well aware that Imran Khan had stopped getting undemocratic support. He knew that it was difficult for Imran Khan to be re-elected and even get elected as a local body counselor. Despite this, why did he decide to send Imran Khan home? Yes, that’s a question that needs to be explored. By removing Imran Khan, he saved Pakistan from a disaster. Though the Imran Khan government tried its best to somehow ram the PPP by giving it a share in the federal government, to win the support of Asif Ali Zardari, Imran khan and his government kept playing their cards till the last night of no-confidence.
But Asif Ali Zardari had come to know about the plan of Imran Khan and his masters, due to which he went on to make his plan of VoNC a successful endeavor instead of accepting the offer of Imran Khan government, but why?
The reason for this was that he had also received reports that Imran Khan was planning to establish authoritarianism in the country, for which he wanted to remove the Nawaz League first by creating divisions in the opposition and then it would be the turn of other parties. They will rule for some time and then plan to change the Constitution of Pakistan by winning more than two-thirds of the seats through fake voting machines
In addition, he also wanted the abolition of the 18th Amendment, President Asif Ali Zardari was well aware that such plans were being made which Pakistan could not afford and the unity of the country would be shattered. If President Asif Ali Zardari wanted, he could have got power in addition to waiving the cases made against him by making a deal because Imran Khan was ready to give every post to President Asif Ali Zardari and his party until his government was saved and voting through electronic machines take place in country, this was his plan and President Asif Ali Zardari knew well that authoritarianism in the country would be a disaster for country’s unity.
Imran khan tried everything to win support of PPP and several messages were sent to President Asif Ali Zardari to step back from VoNC and the government in return will give anything he wants for himself and the PPP, but Asif Ali Zardari knew that these short-term gains would destroy everything including country’s unity and security. He knew well that these short-term gains will bring a lot for PPP but nothing for the country, for his country’s interest was the top priority as Imran khan had the plan to install himself as king Salman of Pakistan because these kings and their style of politics (Read Authoritarianism) has always inspired him.
President Asif Ali Zardari proved that there are still political leaders in the country who can make any sacrifice for the sake of the country and as long as these people are present, no harm can be done to this country. Imran khan should have realized now that if Pakistan has to progress forward democracy is the way out.
