If this happens, then ‘President Faryal Talpur’ does not sound too bad either. How would Maulana Fazlur Rehman take to a woman as Head of State?
Zardari may leave Pakistani presidential race | The Australian
Zardari may leave Pakistani presidential race
ASIF Ali Zardari’s mental health and controversial past were under close scrutiny by Pakistan’s Election Commission last night amid reports he might pull out of the presidential race in favour of his sister.
Lawyers for other candidates to succeed ousted president Pervez Musharraf said that at a meeting of the commission to consider nominees’ eligibility, they would focus on three issues surrounding Mr Zardari.
The three issues are how Mr Zardari came by the $60million in bank accounts that Swiss authorities released to him earlier this week after they dropped money-laundering charges against him; psychiatric reports suggesting he has suffered severe mental health problems; and the nature of his relationship with the similarly controversial Afghan-born US ambassador to the UN, Zalmay Khalilzad.
Reports yesterday suggested that Mr Zardari might withdraw from the race in favour of his sister Faryal Talpur, an MP in his Pakistan People’s Party and former local government official in his home state of Sindh.
Mr Zardari nominated Ms Talpur as his covering candidate, a stand-in option allowed in the Pakistan electoral system should anything prevent the candidate from running.
The pressure on Mr Zardari was apparent yesterday as worried PPP officials tried to shore up his numbers in the electoral college that will decide on the president. They even contacted former Musharraf allies.
Yesterday, doubts about Mr Zardari were articulated in an editorial in leading newspaper The News, which declared: “The fact of the matter is that Mr Zardari, no matter that no case has ever been proved against him, comes to the presidency mired in decades of doubt and suspicion as to his probity, his alleged greed, his obvious artfulness in matters political and a general lack of transparency that makes mud look as clear as spring water.”
Following yesterday’s reinstatement in Sindh of eight superior court judges fired by Mr Musharraf, PPP law minister Farooq Naek conceded it was impossible to undo the illegal state of emergency declared by Mr Musharraf last November.
Mr Naek said that the state of emergency, having been validated by the Musharraf-appointed Supreme Court, could not be overturned by parliament.
Politicians from the Pakistan Muslim League (N) led by Nawaz Sharif have been demanding that Mr Musharraf be tried for treason over his violation of the constitution.
