Conspiracy by whom?
President Asif Ali Zardari, who is also the co-chairman of the ruling Pakistan People’s Party, has started talking about a conspiracy to dislodge him through a smear campaign by “non-state actors” aka fiercely independent media. He has not though named the entities hatching the conspiracy against him.
Zardari came under pressure late last month when Supreme Court ruled the National Reconciliation Ordinance was unconstitutional and a graft amnesty from corruption cases being enjoyed by him and his key cabinet ministers also became ineffective reopening a plethora of court cases.
Though Zardari as a president enjoys immunity from legal proceedings, he has lost the moral high ground with the revival of corruption cases pending against him.
His supporters claim that he has served more than 11 years in jail and not a single corruption or criminal case was proved against him and he was never convicted. But his critics says that Zardari has still to prove the legitimacy of a string of Swiss bank accounts worth millions of dollars, he allegedly amassed through corruption and kickbacks.
Analysts say that Zardari has become increasingly unpopular for his government’s failure to provide security, governance and basic services to the citizens.
Zardari in a hard-hitting speech on the second death anniversary of his late wife Benazir Bhutto on December 27 said that for him there are only two places in the world, either it is President or Prime Minister House or the jail.
