I don’t think Govt. of Pakistan needs any help from outside and from the people of Pakistan in its relief efforts.. they seems not to be bothered with the flood hit nation where the death toll has exceeded 1,200 nor does they care about the economic damages it brought… right now the top priority of the top govt. officials is to go to London and have celebration ( i think over the misery of Pakistani people)
The show will go on, no matter what
News Analysis
Sunday, August 01, 2010
By Afzal Khan
ISLAMABAD: President Asif Ali Zardari is all set to be on the trot again for another of his now familiar periodic jaunts abroad. The official news agency late on Saturday confirmed that Zardari would go, only taking a few less members with him.
The destination, London, is also the one he has frequented umpteen times ever since he took office. Only Dubai beats that frenzied pursuit. It is also neither surprising nor the first time that the trip has triggered controversy within the country amid calls that he may give a second thought to put it off for more than one, seemingly cogent reasons.
The president leaves today for Paris from where he flies to London for a 5-day visit to United Kingdom. Both have been described as official visits though the hosts have yet to label it as state affair to which he is entitled as head of the state. Official visits are reserved for chief executives that he is not. At least on paper, particularly after the 18th Amendment, if there is any chief executive in Pakistan, he is Yusuf Raza Gilani.
Official visits are meant for doing government business and, as always, that is not the focus of President Zardari’s engagements during current sojourn.
In France he is likely to meet his old friend Nicolas Sarkozy whose name is also being mentioned in the infamous Augusta Submarine scam. Last time it was claimed he had extracted a promise from his French counterpart for supply of civil nuclear technology. That was ridiculous and the French duly repudiated it. In UK, the only “official” work is a rendezvous with British Premier David Cameron at Chequers,** his official retreat. After early disappointments in response to his calls for a “$100 billion Marshal Plan” for Pakistan and the subsequent much-publicized Friends of Pakistan initiative that has come to naught so far, the president has recently been talking about trade rather than aid and seeking incentives for enhanced exports by Pakistan.
**
Camreon has promised to talk about Pakistani exports when he meets the president, but of a different kind. In Bangalore he went overboard to accuse Pakistan of “exporting” terror to India, Britain, US and elsewhere in the world. This is something, which even Pakistan’s worst enemies have not said before.
When Hillary Clinton was here last month she did say many unsavoury things but named only Iran as exporter of terror across the world. Cameron has gone a notch further to equate Pakistan with Iran.
That completes the “Axis of Evil”, once bracketing Iran with North Korea and Libya. The latter has now been cleared, so the vacant place, in Cameron’s view, has been filled by an ally-Pakistan. Instead of letting the president have leisure time for entertainment and pleasure for which the retreat is meant, Cameron can think of nothing better but a nasty slur to spoil Mr Zardari’s day.
Strong voices have been raised in the name of “national honour, dignity and self-respect” urging President Zardari to call off his visit in protest. Some analysts say this is absurd. Others have mentioned the terrible air crash and current floods across the country, which have killed hundreds, uprooted hundreds of thousands of people and devastated innumerable villages and houses. In time of calamity the all-powerful head of state and virtually the government needs to stay with his people instead of undertaking pleasure trip.
Lurid tales of usual regal style of the trip, which will consume lakhs of pounds, most probably from the ever-depleting national kitty, have further intrigued the people. Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif has exhorted the president to cancel the visit. “Let us spend all this money on providing relief to the flood affected people,” says the chief minister.
The president’s trip to London has given a new twist by the cancellation of UK visit by ISI Chief General Pasha. Even if it is not meant to shame or embarrass him, it casts a very dark shadow. The security establishment has once again shown itself in sync with public mood and placed the government in an unenviable position. No wonder the military has rebuilt its image in public eye during last two and a half years, that, too, at the cost of democratic government. But does it make any difference?
Mr Zardari is least bothered by reports of plummeting public support. He is not going to contest any election till 2014. The general elections and later the presidential polls will be held while he believes he will still be in office. Prime Minister Gilani and Bilawal Bhutto Zardari (it hardly rhymes like other famous PPP slogans) will conduct party campaign.
In UK he is going to launch Bilawal as PPP chairman and not in his own country, which he is supposed to rule after Mr Zardari quits. Mr Zardari will continue as co-chairman, sister Faryal Talpur as chief of PPP women wing and the youth. So when critics say the president is going abroad to attend to his personal and family affairs, they are hardly off the mark.
If past is any guide, no amount of passionate appeals for cancellation of the trip in national interest for addressing tragedies at home can persuade our strong-willed president not to go ahead with his plans.
The day he addressed joint session of the Parliament on September 20, 2008, after taking oath of the office, the horrific suicide bomb blast occurred in nearby Marriott Hotel, which was described as Pakistan’s 9/11. The president left for Dubai and London preparatory to subsequent visit to the United Nations the same night.
The departure was delayed for a couple of hours till late at two after midnight only because the president’s speech could be recorded after several attempts.
**In April 2009, when Swat was aflame, President Zardari spent almost the entire month in the United States and UK at the hour of great national emergency. On return it was said he had managed to get Kerry-Lugar Bill that had already been moved even before his visit. **
There are numerous similar examples connected to his other visits. So rest assured the show will go on no matter what happens to this hapless nation.