Pakistan's embattled president

Dec 30th 2009 | LAHORE From The Economist print edition ust because Zardari sounds paranoid does not mean they are not out to get him EVER since pressure from the public and the army forced President Asif Zardari to reinstate Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry as Pakistan's chief justice in March, he has looked rattled. Now he sounds almost unhinged. On December 27th, the second anniversary of the murder of his wife, Benazir Bhutto, a former prime minister, he accused "non-state actors" of wanting to break up Pakistan by pitting state institutions against each other. He meant press commentary claiming that he is at odds with the powerful army over foreign policy and that his Pakistan People's Party (PPP) government is tussling with the judiciary. He said the press had been giving "dates" for his downfall, but that he would not flee the country as predicted by his enemies. "I will stay in the presidency or go to jail," he thundered. The undignified outburst came at Naudero in Sindh province, the burial site of his wife and her similarly "martyred" father Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. Of late Mr Zardari has been playing the "Sindh card" by whipping up sub-nationalist sentiment against the "anti-PPP conspiracies" hatched in the dominant province, Punjab. Mr Zardari has looked vulnerable since December 16th, when the Supreme Court struck down the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) promulgated by the previous president, Pervez Musharraf, in October 2007. This had afforded Mr Zardari and other PPP leaders amnesty from criminal proceedings in corruption cases. Overnight, facing a clamour of resignation calls, senior government ministers had to scurry to the courts for bail before they were arrested. Mr Zardari enjoys presidential immunity from criminal, but not civil, action. The court's judgment relies on hitherto unused Islamic provisions of the constitution to declare the NRO "immoral". Similar devices may be used when the court starts hearing civil petitions to unseat Mr Zardari for "moral turpitude". Earlier, the government's lawyer in the NRO case made the astonishing claim that army headquarters and the CIA were conspiring against the PPP government. Following an uproar, he retracted his comment. But senior army officers do not hide their contempt for Mr Zardari and America doubts the value of lending support to an increasingly isolated president. Mr Zardari angered the army when, at America's urging, he tried to tame its influential Inter-Services Intelligence agency, or ISI. The army was also infuriated by American legislation passed in October promising $7.5 billion in assistance to Pakistan. This insists on civilian control of the army, a condition the army suspects was inserted at the behest of the Zardari government. The coming weeks are critical for Mr Zardari. The court will be mulling petitions seeking his removal as president. So he will face pressure to mend fences with the opposition, by repealing the constitutional amendment that strengthens the presidency and empowers him to fire service chiefs and dismiss governments. But even that concession may be too little, too late.

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