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THERE have been many months over the years which are remembered for the turbulent happenings and events taking place then.
March 2021 was yet another turbulent month during which Senate elections including those of the members in place of retiring Senators and Chairman of the Upper House of Parliament took place.
Former President, PPP Co-Chairman and Chairman PPP Parliamentarians Asif Ali Zardari was at his best as the most clever, cunning, sinister mover and game player master minding, planning and making things move in the direction he planned, desired and wanted very quietly from Bilawal House Islamabad.
He is unmatched by any politician of the country in his evil abilities and capabilities top say the least.
Asif Ali Zardari had landed in Bilawal House in Islamabad just three days ahead of the Senate elections scheduled for 03 March 2021 and played his card from there cunningly and cleverly un-noticed by many.
PPP had fielded former Prime Minister, National Assembly Speaker Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani as its candidate for Senate seat from Islamabad.
He was fully supported by opposition parties alliance against PTI candidate Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh.
In the hotly contested election, GIlani defeated PTI candidate by a margin of 5 votes.
While felicitating Gilani over his Senate victory, Zardari had remarked that Gilani should have won by a margin of 20 votes and not just 5 votes.
This was an indication, which somehow went unnoticed by media and political circles, about his masterminding horse trading involving so many treasury benchers to vote for Gilani.
Yousuf Raza Gilani then contested for the slot of Senate Chairman and lost to Sadiq Sanjrani as his seven votes were cancelled.
While raising hue and cry over this cancellation of votes, Zardari continued playing his cards quite mysteriously resulting in Gilani becoming the Opposition Leader in the Senate with a support of 30 votes including 7 Senators of Balochistan Awami Party (BAP) to the great shock and surprise of the opposition alliance component parties including PML-N which had eyes on the slot of the Opposition Leader in the Senate.
Asif Ali Zardari was virtually a non-entity son of PPP leader Hakim Ali Zardari till he married Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s daughter Benazir Bhutto in December 1987.
Since then he has not paused to look back and continued moving onward to the highest office of the land, President of Pakistan while gaining reputation both nationally as Mr 10 Per cent and eve as Mr 100 Per cent reflecting on his lust for corruption left and right.
His wife , PPP Life Chairperson and former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto was tragically murdered on December 27, 2007 while she was coming out of Liaquat Bagh Rawalpindi after addressing a public gathering there. Zardari had rushed home from Dubai, lost no time in assuming control of PPP.
He fully realized that only a Bhutto can have control over the party and accordingly inserted Bhutto in the names of his three children Bilawal, Baklhtawar and Asseffa and named Bilawal as the Chairman who was then studying in the Oxford University and himself becoming Co-Chairman of PPP.
Cutting long story short, PPP had won the election following tragic demise of Benazir Bhutto and Zardari in the process had become the President of Pakistan after Army Chief/President General Pervez Musharraf had stepped down.
On her deceased wife’s first death anniversary, Asif Zardari had publicly stated that he knows the killers of his wife but would disclose their names at an appropriate time. That appropriate time has never come even after passage of several years till now.
A UN Inquiry Mission had visited Pakistan to probe into the murder of Benazir Bhutto. But neither Asif Zardari nor Rehman Malik bothered to appear before the Inquiry Mission.
Rehman Malik was the Chief Security Officer of Benazir Bhutto and had mysteriously disappeared from the scene of tragedy.
In the PPP government, he was named as the Interior Minister and also elected as the Senator.
Asif Zardari is also on record to have stated that as the President he had extended tenure of the Army Chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani beyond normal three years because he (Gen Kayani) suited him.
As the President, Zardari had also greatly benefitted to more than Rs 100 billion directly and indirectly property tycoon Riaz Hussain Malik who had returned the goodwill gesture by gifting huge Bilawal House in Bahria Town Lahore to Zardari who obviously relishes facing sorts of charges and allegations against him both at home and abroad and being called “Ik Zardari Sab Pe Bhari”.
Prior to becoming the President and during the second tenure as the Prime Minister of his wife Benazir Bhutto from 1993 to 1996, Asif Zardari also served as MNA and was the Federal Minister for Environment.
Zardari initially was interested in the Finance Ministry but as per reports his wife had opted to put him in a non-revenue generating department instead of the Finance Ministry.
He was also a Senator until October 1999 when coup was staged by Army Chief General Pervez Musharraf ousting then Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and dissolving the Senate as well as the national and provincial assemblies.
Asif Zardari has been in jails for about 12 years in Pakistan in cases initiated against him by Nawaz Sharif regime.
He also faced number of criminal charges and allegations in foreign countries including Switzerland, Poland, France.
Zardari had amassed wealth both within the country and abroad and in April 1998, leading English daily (The Nation) had published a detailed story running into four pages about properties, apartments, plots and agriculture land in Pakistan, shares in sugar mills, front companies in foreign countries, properties in Britain, Belgium and USA and numerous bank accounts as well in Pakistan and Dubai, Switzerland, France, Britain, Geneva along with accounts details.
There is a lot more about Asif Ali Zardari against him the incumbent federal government is contemplating to reopen the Swiss case.
This article is based on information available from different sources as well as personal knowledge on the basis of published reports and any correction is sincerely welcomed as the writer has no personal grudge or bias against Asif Ali Zardari and even his wife Benazir Bhutto who was also named along with her hubby in corruption charges and even faced conviction in a number of foreign countries.
—The writer is Lahore-based senior journalist, Columnist and retired Deputy Controller (News), Radio Pakistan, Islamabad.
