Pakistan’s President, Asif Ali Zardari, leader of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), has given proof of his political savvy. He has dropped a broad hint that his party may accept the Pakistan Supreme Court’s demand that the Swiss authorities may be asked to reopen the graft cases against him. Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf could not have acted off his own bat. Zardari must have been behind him. Ashraf has given the apex court three weeks time to communicate with the Swiss government. The party leadership in making this shift in policy must have weighed the pros and cons. Having fallen in with the Court’s demand, the PPP will avoid a clash between the judiciary and the executive. It will also put the party on a stronger wicket in the forthcoming elections in the country. Furthermore, the ceasefire between the two wings of the troika will bolster the economy. The market in Pakistan has already got stronger. The government will be in a better position to turn its attention to the problems of governance. That will also improve the PPP’s prospects in the coming polls.
Of course, the move makes the President vulnerable to judicial proceedings against him. But Zardari is wise to the fact that the Swiss authorities will be reluctant to open a case of worms by acting against an elected head of state, who doubtless has constitutional immunity. The Pakistan Supreme Court has skirted this issue. So, while the executive is cooperating with the judiciary, President Zardari is hardly likely to be put on trial. Thus, Zardari’s moral stature goes up and along with it the image of the PPP.