Zardari prefers death to resignation, claims aide

Saturday, November 07, 2009 By By Rauf Klasra

ISLAMABAD: President Asif Zardari is said to have given final touches to a new political script for his own survival. The script has been finalised with the help of his top aides after a series of late night meetings at the Presidency in the last 72 hours. He has been advised not to quit, come what may. Meanwhile, MQM chief Altaf Hussain has been politely told that the president could not accept his advice to quit as such decisions were not taken in “panic” or under duress.Sources privy to the secret discussions revealed that one thing could be said on good authority that President Zardari would not quit under any pressure, whether political or otherwise. The source said that by rejecting the “friendly and brotherly” advice of Altaf Hussain to resign, Zardari has sent a loud message to all his friends and foes alike that he would not quit, come what may. “Mr Zardari has decided to face any eventuality, and he is not going to resign under duress,” one of his aides claimed when asked to comment on reports of his likely resignation in the first week of December. Sources said after Altaf Hussain delivered him a late night message through an MQM minister, Zardari received several briefings from his top aides about “life after November 28”, the day the NRO ordinance would stand expired and real action would start. He even summoned Senate chairman. The sources said in these meetings even names of those politicians and bureaucrats were reviewed who would be required to seek bails from the courts if the cases settled under the NRO were reopened. But it has been decided that no minister or bureaucrat would seek bail on his own as they all would wait for the courts to reopen these cases. One top aide of the president did not have any doubt in his mind that instead of tendering resignation, Zardari would prefer to be dispatched in a coffin to Ghari Khuda Bux from the Presidency for burial beside the grave of Benazir Bhutto. Between November 2009 to March 2010, when he would be required to deliver his second presidential address to the joint sitting of parliament, a radical constitutional reform package would be tabled in parliament to put an end to the ongoing tug of war between Nawaz Sharif and the Presidency over the issue of president’s powers. An unprecedented Balcohistan package is also ready for announcement in December as part of confidence-building measures (CBMs) to initiate dialogue with the defiant Baloch leaders who want Islamabad to first announce the CBMs before starting serious negotiations to end the violence in the province. President Zardari is ready to take all remedial steps to improve his personal image in the media and in the public and for this very purpose certain major steps might even surprise his critics in the days to come. President Zardari was also told that he would be quite safe even after November 28, as he enjoyed immunity and, most importantly, no court has ever convicted him. But at the same time Zardari has been advised to be ready to “sacrifice” some of his close aides and ministers to start a new journey in the Presidency.