Zardari’s security up amid attack fears

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Pakistan presidential hopeful Asif Ali Zardari has moved to a top security location in Islamabad due to fears of attacks being made on his life, the country’s prime minister said yesterday.

Zardari, the widower of assassinated former premier Benazir Bhutto, plans to run in the September 6 poll to succeed Pervez Musharraf who resigned the presidency earlier this month under threat of impeachment.

“Asif Zardari has shifted to the prime minister’s house because of security concerns,” Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani told reporters in the southern port city of Karachi.

“He has shifted there because of dangers involved to his life especially at present when his political activities and mobility is hectic.”

Zardari had been living in his family home in another area of Islamabad.

Former premier Bhutto was killed in a gun and suicide attack in December last year moments after speaking at a campaign rally in Rawalpindi near the capital.

Violence has spiked in Pakistan in recent weeks in reaction to the military’s crackdown on Taliban-inspired militancy in the country’s northwest.

Zardari is seen as close to the United States which is putting Pakistan under pressure to crush rebels who have taken sanctuary on the border with Afghanistan.

There has been speculation in local media this week that Zardari may quit the presidential race because of the controversy surrounding his candidacy.

He acquired the notorious nickname “Mr 10 percent” after being accused of pocketing commission on government deals signed during his wife’s two terms as prime minister. He also spent a total of 11 years in prison on corruption and other criminal charges.

But Gilani emphatically denied that Zardari would withdraw.

“Any reports about Asif Zardari’s withdrawal from the presidential elections are untrue,” Gilani said. “He is not withdrawing.”

Zardari, who took the leadership of Bhutto’s Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) following her death, saw the party win a majority of the seats in February general elections.

Earlier contacts between the Pakistan People’s Party and the Pakistan Muslim League-N established at different levels on Thursday resulted in further widening of the split rather than reviving the coalition, which fell apart on Aug 25 because of differences over the reinstatement of judges and the unilateral nomination of Asif Zardari as presidential candidate.

PPP co-chairman Asif Zardari and PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif talked on phone for the first time since the latter quit the ruling coalition. PML-N leader Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan called on Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and a PPP delegation met the PML-N leader at the Punjab House.

Sources said Zardari requested Sharif to withdraw Justice (retd) Saeeduzzaman Siddiqui from the race for the presidency and also urged him to return to the coalition. But Sharif told Zardari “we have come too far and it would not be possible for me to back out of my party’s commitment on the judges’ issue.”

The PML-N chief also turned down Zardari’s request to withdraw Siddiqui from the presidential race.

Both PML-N information secretary Ahsan Iqbal and Information Minister Sherry Rehman confirmed that the two leaders had talked on phone, but claimed that the issue of presidential election was not discussed. They said Sharif thanked the PPP co-chairman for tendering an apology to him in his televised address soon after the announcement that Sharif had quit the ruling coalition.

According to Iqbal, the PML-N chief told Zardari that his party had taken the decision after a detailed deliberation and waited long for the implementation of pledges made by the PPP.

Sharif, however, assured Zardari that the PML-N would adhere to the Charter of Democracy, signed by him and former prime minister Benazir Bhutto two years ago.

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