Today, I ran across an interesting article in the Financial Times. Entitled, “Doubts Cast on Zardari’s Mental Health,” the FT’s Michael Peel and Farhan Bokhari reported, “Asif Ali Zardari, the leading contender for the presidency of nuclear-armed Pakistan, was suffering from severe psychiatric problems as recently as last year, according to court documents filed by his doctors.” The co-Chairman of the PPP was reportedly diagnosed “with a range of serious illnesses including dementia, major depressive disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder in a series of medical reports spanning more than two years.” Zardari, noted the FT writers, spent 11 of the last 20 years in Pakistani prisons, where he claimed he was tortured. The FT cited a NY-based psychiatrist, Phillip Satiel, who said in a March 2007 diagnosis that Zardari’s imprisonment had left him suffering from “emotional instability” and memory and concentration problems. [Image from the AP]
Despite this diagnosis last year, Wajid Shamsul Hasan, Pakistan’s High Commissioner in London and a longstanding ally of the Bhutto family, told the FT yesterday that Zardari’s subsequent medical examinations and his doctors “declared him medically fit to run for political office and free of any symptoms.” He added,
You have got to understand that while he was in prison on charges that were never proven, there were attempts to kill him…At that time, he was surrounded by fear all the time. Any human being living in such a condition will of course suffer from the effects of continuous fear. But that is all history.
However, despite Hasan’s assertions, such reports of mental illness were publicized at a significant time – less than a week from today, Zardari is slated to run for the country’s presidential elections, a development that has sparked questions and skepticism among many Pakistanis, [so far, 78% of those who voted in yesterday’s CHUP poll deemed “President Zardari” the worst decision for Pakistan]. In an op-ed in today’s Dawn, Kamran Shafi asserted,
Bad idea, Asif Zardari putting himself up for election as president, and worse, to do it without consulting the PML-N…Yes, sirs, a very bad idea indeed as Asif will find to his own and the party’s cost sooner rather than later with Nawaz Sharif stalking out of the coalition. It will be interesting to see how the PPP runs the country without the help of the next largest political party.
According to The News on Tuesday, Zardari, “who till Sunday was quite comfortable in the presidential race, has now certain hurdles to cross to clinch the top slot.” Following yesterday’s decision to exit the coalition, the PML-N announced its own presidential candidate will be former chief justice of Pakistan, Saeeduzzaman Siddiqui, and media outlets have indicated the party is attempting to “woo” the PML-Q over to their camp.
Officially, the United States has been neutral in the contest over who succeeds Pervez Musharraf. However, a piece in today’s NY Times reported that Zalmay Khalilzad, the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations [and former U.S. Ambassador to Iraq], is facing angry questions from other senior Bush administration officials over what they describe as unauthorized contacts with Zardari. The Times noted, “Mr. Khalilzad had spoken by telephone with Mr. Zardari…several times a week for the past month until he was confronted about the unauthorized contacts.” U.S. officials, including Asst. Secretary of State for South Asia, Richard Boucher, reacted with outrage to such news, fearing such reports “could leave the impression that the United States is taking sides in Pakistan’s already chaotic internal politics.” [Image from the NY Times]
Ultimately, today’s developments – from reports of Zardari’s mental state to the PML-N’s presidential candidate – may show that the PPP co-Chairman’s ascendancy to the presidency will not be without its obstacles. As political infighting continues, other issues facing the country are ever-increasing. Media outlets reported the stock market reacted negatively to the recent political developments – slumping four percent on Tuesday, and severe load shedding in Karachi, Quetta, and Peshawar has drastically affected daily life and business activities.
good synopsis. as you point out, and in fairness to zardari, he was in jail for a long time, and probably was tortured. that’s enough to drive anyone nuts. regardless, he’ll be pakistan’s president before ramadan is over.
Its pretty obvious to me that his lawyers claimed mental illness as a way to discredit the last government– now that he is out and vying for office he is obviously going to “recover”
[…] psychiatric problems, shamsul, significant time, traumatic stress disorder, zardari Read more at: CHUP! – Changing Up Pakistan This post […]
[…] Link to the original site Author: wtfpakistan Time: Wednesday, August 27th, 2008 at 4:38 am Category: Pakistan Comments: You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site. RSS: You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Navigation: « CHUP Poll: Should Asif Zardari Be Pakistan’s Next President? […]
How can we even think of Zardari as a role model? Representing our country?? Imran Khan in capital talk on Aug 24th very calmly tried to speak against Zardari, but he was being subdued by the PPP representative, who later resorted to personal attacks on Imran Khan. Imran, on the other hand questioned Zardari’s integrity based on various charges on him. You could clearly tell the difference in the level of intelligence between the two which is independent of the level of education. I wish media would give more coverage to Imran. He has matured into a true visionary leader.
@ The biggest bump on Zardari’s road to “Presidium”
is his puppet faithfull Abdel Hameed Dogar the CJ
installed there illegaly. this bump could be a fatal
speed-breaker.
@ It is regrettable that the entire media, journalism,
printed and written media IS PROMOTING, THE CROOK’s
PPP candidate, All the Govt apparatus is being USED for
this shameful act, the Pakistani citizens particularly the
quasi-total muslim majority must fight back the Stalinist
Progis, who are nothing but followers of Goolagists in
disguise of progress which is politically, just the opposite
of prosperity. Lets move against them together, moderate
practicing, nationalists, non-practicing, strong believers.
Let them come to power, don’t fear, they come straight
in their own trap. Evil will pay, Inshallah.¨¨
@ A news paper reports today,
Zardari exempted from declaring all his assets
to Electîon Commission, but others have to ,
why ? This would be not normal !!
The entire assets of Zarbhutts must be declared
to the public, PPP will be held responsible for any fraud
and misapproprations on the required declaration &
exigences by the Pakistani Penal Law.
All the Bank accounts in or outside Pakistan,
All the power of attorneys given to or from anyone,
Zardari being benefactor, must be declared.
All the properties owned or shared or legationised,
(inherited) must be declared, in and outside Pakistan.
All his children adults and infants must declare if
benefactories of any such liquidities in their favour.
All the details of his incomes and revenues in or outside
Pakistan.
Its normal, no ?
[…] developments have shown that his road to this slot will not be without its hurdles, [also see “Zardari’s Bumpy Road to the Presidency”]. In its coverage yesterday, Reuters reported the election will ultimately be a “three-way […]
[…] himself. Although he swept the polls on Saturday, the PPP co-chairman is haunted by a murky past, a not-too-forgiving present, and the eternal label, “Mr. Ten Percent.” The Economist added, “He was […]
[…] himself. Although he swept the polls on Saturday, the PPP co-chairman is haunted by a murky past, a not-too-forgiving present, and the eternal label, “Mr. Ten Percent.” The Economist added, “He was […]
[…] himself. Although he swept the polls on Saturday, the PPP co-chairman is haunted by a murky past, a not-too-forgiving present, and the eternal label, “Mr. Ten Percent.” The Economist added, “He was […]
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