wow! did anyone know this before? a president with psychiatric problems and suicidal tendencies?
Asif Ali Zardari ‘mentally unstable’: report
**ASIF Ali Zardari's past returned to haunt him yesterday as his quest to become the president of nuclear-armed Pakistan was overshadowed by reports showing he had been diagnosed with severe psychiatric illnesses and had shown suicidal tendencies.**
London's Financial Times newspaper reported that it had viewed medical reports filed with Britain's High Court that, as recently as last year, painted a picture of a man "with multiple and severe physical and mental health problems".
The medical assessments, only months before he returned home after the assassination of his wife, Benazir Bhutto, outlined Mr Zardari’s problems with dementia, major depressive disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder after being jailed in Pakistan on corruption and murder allegations, the newspaper said.
T**hey were submitted by Mr Zardari to the British courts in an effort to plead ill health as he sought to defend himself against corruption charges. **
Embarrassingly, the psychiatric diagnoses came to light as Pakistani officials, anticipating Mr Zardari’s victory in next week’s presidential election, disclosed plans were under way for him to lead the country’s delegation to next month’s annual UN Security Council meeting in New York.
Senior officials of Mr Zardari’s Pakistan People’s Party dismissed the revelations as “all in the past and not important now”.
His friend Wajid Shamsul Hasan, Pakistan’s High Commissioner in London, told the FT that doctors had “declared him medically fit to run for political office and free of any symptoms”.
But the reports burst like a bombshell on the political scene in Islamabad and analysts believe they could prove crucial in the run-up to the election.
Ominously, there is growing dismay within Pakistan’s army, which has ruled Pakistan for most of its 61 years as an independent Islamic nation, over the deepening chaos besetting the country’s nascent democracy. **Sources in Islamabad say the generals are unlikely to countenance the turmoil for much longer. The top brass is believed to be horrified at the thought of Mr Zardari becoming president and sources yesterday said they were considering whether to “intervene”. **
Following Monday’s collapse of the ruling coalition, there was widespread apprehension about the prospects for continued democratic rule in Pakistan.
As reported by the FT, Mr Zardari’s medical reports show that in March last year, less than a year before he led the PPP to victory, Mr Zardari was described by New York psychiatrist Philip Saltiel as suffering from “emotional instability” and memory and concentration problems.
“I do not foresee any improvement in these issues for at least a year,” Mr Saltiel wrote.
Stephen Reich, a New York psychologist, in March last year diagnosed Mr Zardari with dementia, major depressive disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder - problems stemming in part from his time in jail.
“He had difficulty focusing, concentrating and paying attention, is persistently sad, chronically anxious and apprehensive. He stated that he had suicidal thoughts, but has not made any suicide gesture,” Mr Reich wrote.
Mr Reich re-examined Mr Zardari in June and September last year, each time concluding he still had problems that might make it impossible for him to testify incourt.
The British corruption charges against Mr Zardari were dropped in March this year following the PPP’s election victory and the earlier granting of an amnesty to him by Mr Musharraf.
Yesterday, Swiss authorities shelved a long-running probe into alleged money laundering charges against him and Bhutto after they were suspected of using Swiss bank accounts to launder about $13 million in alleged bribes paid by companies seeking customs inspection contracts in Pakistan in the 1990s.
Yesterday, Mr Zardari and his former coalition partner and now arch rival former prime minister Nawaz Sharif were busy trying to line up new allies ahead of the presidential vote on September 6.
Mr Sharif on Monday walked out of the coalition and moved to the opposition, announcing his own candidate for president - former chief justice Saeed uz Zaman Siddiqui.
In a startling claim psychiatrists in the US have diagnosed Co-chairman of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), Presidential nominee and husband of the former Pakistan Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, Asif Ali Zardari, with Dementia.
A court document submitted last year by two New York psychiatrists analysed that Zardari’s eleven years in detention left him severely emotionally unstable, and that he was grappling with memory loss and concentration problems so much so that he had a hard time recalling the names of his wife and children.
It was this psychiatric analysis that Zardari used to his advantage to successfully fight a now redundant English High Court case on corruption charges by the Pakistan government. His reported mental condition is said to be linked to Zardari’s claims that he had been tortured during his incarceration.
Says Stephen Reich, psychiatrist from New York State, “Zardari’s time in prison has left him with severe “emotional instability”, memory loss and concentration problems. Zardari is unable to recall the birthdays of his wife and children and had thought about suicide. ’’
Controversy has dogged Zardari for more than a decade and he’s spent a half of the last two decades in prison in Pakistan fighting charges of corruption and murder were he claims to have been tortured.
With Zardari hemming and hawing over reinstating the deposed judges that has plunged Pakistan into political uncertainty but also kicking his chance as the Presidential candidate, one wonders whether who is more damned with Zardari debilitated with dementia, the man himself or the country.
[quote]
Ominously, there is growing dismay within Pakistan's army, which has ruled Pakistan for most of its 61 years as an independent Islamic nation, over the deepening chaos besetting the country's nascent democracy. **Sources in Islamabad say the generals are unlikely to countenance the turmoil for much longer. The top brass is believed to be horrified at the thought of Mr Zardari becoming president and sources yesterday said they were considering whether to "intervene".
[/quote]
They better stay in their barracks this time and watch the show like they are supposed to!
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one of a kind breaking news , i must say ..............
[p.s. 1; note the timings here ,please ]
[p.s. 2; dementia patients r not apparently fine , as zardari seemed ]
Zardari must be fuming why he opted for this option to not face charges in court
Explains a lot why our political scene is so ruined, whats important to them is that Asif Zardari **Bhutto **is incharge of their party and they are in govt!
This is rubbish. He is THE MOST clever person in Pakistan at this time.
May God Save Pakistan from him, Nawaz, Fazlu, Altaf and other looters/criminal. May we don't see uniform in presidency house again. Wait for a masacare by oppressed nation. We need Tze in Pakistan to clear the filth.
They better stay in their barracks this time and watch the show like they are supposed to!
**
Watch the country run by a demented retard who is a psychiatric mess. Person who is known ans Mr. 10% and is proven to have stolen millions of dollars from Pakistan???
I dont think any person who loves Pakistan can sit back and watch this.
hey! this relates to his personal life.. what it has to do with POLITICS and NATIONAL issues! if he was mentaly disturbed or even if had some character flaws, his political credibility should not be judged for those reasons.
Watch the country run by a demented retard who is a psychiatric mess. Person who is known ans Mr. 10% and is proven to have stolen millions of dollars from Pakistan???
I dont think any person who loves Pakistan can sit back and watch this.
Bhaijaan, aap bhool rahey hain key a few months ago another one these Pakistan lovers from the barracks issued something called the NRO and unleashed this so called monster upon us.
You all missing one point here, if anyone knows the law of UK, if someone have comitted crime because of his illness he gets less sentence, even a murder sometime becomes man slaughter. He may never have been mentally ill he used that to his advantage to get lesser sentence or suspended sentence due to the fact that the crime was comitted due to his illness (not been normal human being). So all of mental illness can be a drama and he have money to pay to doctors to get certified that he was in reality mentally ill. Once doctor has issued his professional certificate then no one can challenge it.
Thats how he survived from getting imprisoned or maybe received suspended sentence. We are not sure whether he was jailed or he recieved only suspended sentences. He is one hell of clever bloke if it was all drama he did of mental illness.
He married a Bhutto, so obviously learnt a few tricks from the Bhutto family. When they are out of power, Bhutto family members suffer from all kinds of diseases and marz, and are basically incapacited because of political zulm o'sitm. As soon as they get back in power, they are hashaash bashaash, full of energy and healthy beyond words.
Pls don't take their out-of-power medical certificates seriously! Its a family habit :p
