Bring Back The Crooks

Hantu Laut

Throw out a good man and bring back the crooks.That's what exactly the Pakistani voters have done to their country.

The return of Asif Ali Zardari , the widower of Benazir Ali Bhutto to Pakistani politics and President was nothing less than emotional sympathy of the Pakistani people.A dangerous trend in many Asian countries.

His wife assasinated in December 2007 by suicide bomber while on a campaign trail to make a comeback to Pakistani politics brought him back from the dead. Her death was the cause celebre that catapulted Zardari to the nation's highest office.

This is the man dogged with shady commercial deals that landed him in jail for 7 years.Known as "Mr Ten Percent" his shady deals included charges of money laundering in Switzerland, shady deals in Dubai and mysterious real estate acquisition in Britain and France.The worst allegation against him was the murder of his brother-in-law, Benazir's brother Murtaza Bhutto in 1996 in Karachi.

In 2007 under American and British brokered deal, President Musharraf dropped all charges against Zardari and allowed his wife to return to Pakistan to participate in the elections.

Musharraf, seen by the American and British as coming to an end of his shelf life and usefulness convinced him to return Pakistan to civilian rule and to allow not only Benazir Bhutto to return but another crooked politician ex-Premier Nawaz Sharif who was in exiled in Saudi Arabia.

It's turbulent times in Pakistan,inflation is running over 25%, the country foreign reserve is dwindling fast over the past few months and there is acute shortage of fuel and electricity.

Zardari biggest headache and challenge would be the restive Northwest Frontier Province bordering Afghanistan where the Talibans have gained a strong foothold and had Talibanizied the province with extreme form of Islam.

With two crooks running the country we would have to wait and see whether Pakistan would see true democracy and better economic development or would suffer even worse....

...a state of disrepair and despair.