Devil's Advocate: Asif Ali Zardari

NOT ME: Asif Ali Zardari says he can't be Pakistan's Sonia Gandhi for she is too great.

          

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Rajdeep Sardesai

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Keywords: Pervez Musharraf, Nawaz Sharif

Karan Thapar: You are absolutely right when you say that you have to gain people’s confidence and prove to them that you can run the government. The problem is that Nawaz Sharif, in an interview, said to me that he is considering taking Musharraf to court for deposing an elected Prime Minister and abrogating the constitution. That would lose the confidence of the military establishment from day one.

Asif Ali Zardari: Like I said before he goes there he will have to consult his friends.

Karan Thapar: Are you confident he will consult you?

Asif Ali Zardari: I think he should and he will. Why would I expect anything less of him? He is my ally, we fought the elections nearly together and I intend to take him with me on every issue that is facing Pakistan

Karan Thapar: Except that he wants vengeance for being thrown out power by Musharraf. He has a personal animus, which in a sense you don’t have against Musharraf.

Asif Ali Zardari: I think if there is anybody aggrieved in this whole situation it is the PPP.

Karan Thapar: So if you can be restrained so should he?

Asif Ali Zardari: You said it, I didn’t.

Karan Thapar: A second problem is his stand on the restoration of the judiciary. Sharif has said he wants the new government on day one to restore the judiciary. Is it possible; is it acceptable?

Asif Ali Zardari: I look at it in a larger concept. I am the person against whom the law has been applied more. How do you know law? Either you read law or you experience law. I have experienced law, and the kind of law which they accept is tailor-made. So in all these scenarios I think the nation has grown up—we have all travelled a great deal. Let us sit down and do something permanent, rather than looking for immediate excuses.

Karan Thapar: Except that you are prepared to be patient and to take it step by step but Nawaz Sharif is impatient. When he says that he is demanding restoration on day one, he is putting a test—almost a challenge—in front of his ally.

Asif Ali Zardari: No we can always agree upon that position—it is just a methodology. We are not in the business of not taking public opinion with us. We are susceptible to public opinion. The public opinion today says the judiciary must be restored. So I meet them, speak to them and find a way out of an issue.

Karan Thapar: Let me put another problem to you. The restoration of the judiciary would almost inevitably lead to the unraveling of the National Reconciliation Ordinance. All the cases you were confronted with and now which have been set aside would suddenly come back.