Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari on March 23 urged all political parties to set aside their differences to tackle the multiple problems faced by the cash-strapped country amidst increasing political polarisation and a spike in terror attacks.

Mr. Zardari was addressing the 84th Pakistan Day celebrations and Army parade held at the Parade Ground area in Islamabad.

The day marks the adoption of the historic Lahore Resolution on this day in 1940 which provided a framework for the realisation of the goal of a separate homeland for Muslims of South Asia.

Saudi Defence Minister Khalid Bin Salman was the guest of honour on the occasion. Mr. Zardari inspected the parade of tri-services and admired the preparedness of the forces. He also used the occasion to urge for building internal consensus while shunning political differences.

“I request all political parties that they should set aside all their political issues and work for the development and prosperity of the country,” Mr. Zardari, who was elected as President earlier this month, said.

Mr. Zardari was referring to the protest by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) against the alleged rigging in the election and imprisonment of its leader Imran Khan. Mr. Zardari said that Pakistan was facing multiple challenges but the newly-elected government would address the challenges faced by the country.

“I am happy that a democratic government has been set up after elections. Now it is our responsibility to tackle all challenges. I believe that as we did in the past, we will tackle all problems and we will take the country out of the current troubles,” he said.

He said Pakistani forces were strong enough to face the threat and defend the country, adding that the success of Pakistan against terrorism has been acknowledged by the world.

The President said the country had already set up the Special Investment Facilitation Centre (SIFC), including top civil and military leadership, to make key decisions regarding developing important sectors such as mining, agriculture, and information technology.

Mr. Zardari said that Pakistan being a peaceful nuclear state was eager to have good ties with all neighbours but warned that it would not tolerate any kind of aggression.

“We will not tolerate any kind of effort by terrorists or any group to destabilise our country,” he said, apparently referring to the spike in terror attacks in the country and tensions with neighbouring Afghanistan.

The President termed the unresolved issue of Kashmir as the main source of instability in the region and urged the dispute should be resolved according to the UN resolutions. “The people of Pakistan will always stand by Kashmiris in their struggle and will always support them,” he said, reiterating Islamabad’s stated stand.

India has firmly told Pakistan that Jammu and Kashmir will always be an integral and inalienable part of the country. Mr. Zardari also demanded an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and urged for the opening of a humanitarian corridor to provide timely support to the besieged people of Gaza.

The President especially thanked China, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Turkiye for providing support to debt-trapped Pakistan in difficult times.

The main feature of the day was the grand military parade in Islamabad where contingents of three armed forces and other security forces conducted a march past while fighter planes performed aerobatic maneuvers.

Separately, Mr. Zardari, who became Pakistan’s President for a second time, stressed the nation to participate in the nation-building process actively, embracing the values of hard work, integrity, and compassion.

In his message on Pakistan Day, he honoured the commitment and sacrifices made by the Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah and his companions.

“Our armed forces, civil administration, police, and law enforcement agencies have, with unwavering commitment, ensured the safety, security, and sovereignty of our nation,” he said.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif in his message asked the nation to renew the firm resolve to follow the footsteps of the founding fathers to make Pakistan a trivet of peace, progress and stability.

“Our forefathers made untiring efforts and rendered exemplary sacrifices for Pakistan as millions of Muslims left their homes in India and decided to migrate to Pakistan,” he said.

“We are completely cognisant of the serious challenges confronting Pakistan currently including inflation, unemployment, circular debt, fiscal and trade deficit, and above all the growing scourge of terrorism,” he said and assured to stand committed to putting Pakistan on the path to economic recovery and prosperity with a cogent policy reform framework.

Radio Pakistan reported that special prayers were offered in mosques after predawn prayers for the prosperity and solidarity of the country. The national flag was hoisted on major government buildings.

There was no immediate comment by Pakistan’s military and the Taliban government in Afghanistan denounced the strikes, which are likely to further increase tension between the neighbouring countries.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

“Pakistani airstrikes targeted multiple suspected hideouts of Pakistani Taliban inside Afghanistan early Monday (March 18), two days after insurgents killed seven soldiers in a suicide bombing and coordinated attacks in the northwest,” two security officials said.

There was no immediate comment by Pakistan’s military and the Taliban government in Afghanistan denounced the strikes, which are likely to further increase tension between the neighbouring countries.

Two Pakistani security and intelligence officials said the airstrikes were carried out in Khost and Paktika provinces bordering Pakistan. The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak to media on the record.

The officials provided no further details, and it was unclear whether jets went deep inside Afghanistan. The Pakistani Taliban also confirmed Monday’s strikes in a statement.

Chief Afghan Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid said in a statement that Pakistan’s airstrikes in Barmal distirct in Paktika killed three women and three children while two other women were killed in the strike in Khost province.

The airstrikes came two days after a suicide bomber rammed his explosive-laden truck into a military post in northwest Pakistan, killing seven soldiers.

Pakistani troops also came under attack on March 16 and they killed all six militants responsible in a shootout in North Waziristan, a district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province that borders Afghanistan.

Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari attended the funerals of the soldiers and vowed to retaliate for their killings, saying “the blood of our martyred soldiers will not go in vain.” Saturday’s attack on the military post was claimed by a newly formed militant group, Jaish-e-Fursan-e-Muhammad. However, Pakistani security officials believed the group mainly is comprised of members of the outlawed Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan or TTP, which often targets Pakistani soldiers and police.

Syed Muhammad Ali, an Islamabad based security expert, said Monday’s strikes were in retaliation for a series of TTP attacks, especially the one on Saturday in Mir Ali in which an Army lieutenant colonel and captain were among those killed.

He said the Pakistani strikes came within 24 hours of Mr. Zardari’s promise of strong retaliation. “It also indicates that Pakistan’s patience for the Afghan interim government’s continued hospitality for terrorists conducting frequent attacks on Pakistan from inside Afghanistan has finally run out,” he said.

The Pakistani Taliban are a separate group but are allies of the Afghanistan Taliban, who seized power in Afghanistan in 2021 as the U.S. and NATO troops were in the final stages of their pullout. The Taliban takeover in Afghanistan emboldened TTP, whose top leaders and fighters are hiding in Afghanistan.

Though the Taliban government in Afghanistan often says it will not allow TTP or any other militant group to attack Pakistan or any other country from its soil, the Pakistani Taliban have stepped up attacks inside Pakistan in recent years, straining relations with the Afghan Taliban government.

Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, left, meets with newly elected Pakistan’s President Asif Ali Zardari, in Islamabad, Pakistan, Saturday, March 9, 2023.
| Photo Credit: AP

Asif Ali Zardari took oath as Pakistan’s 14th President on March 10, a day after the veteran politician was overwhelmingly elected as the next head of country.

Chief Justice of Pakistan Qazi Faez Isa administered the oath to Mr. Zardari, 68, at Aiwan-e-Sadr, the Presidential Palace. He will replace Dr Arif Alvi, who stayed in office for five more months despite completing his five-year term in September 2023.

Also read: Asif Ali Zardari | Return of the survivor

The swearing-in ceremony was attended by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, all three service chiefs, senior officials and diplomats.

Mr. Zardari, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) co-chairman, the joint candidate of the ruling alliance, was elected as the country’s president for the second time on March 9, after he defeated PTI-backed Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) candidate Mahmood Khan Achakzai by a huge margin.

He secured 411 electoral votes in Parliament and all four provincial assemblies with the backing of allied parties — mainly Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P).

Mr. Achakzai bagged 181 votes as he secured the majority of votes in the PTI-backed SIC-dominated Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly.

Asif Ali Zardari, a veteran politician

This is the second time Mr. Zardari has won the presidency. He earlier served as the 11th president of Pakistan from 2008 to 2013 and has been a member of the National Assembly of Pakistan since August 2018.

Born in 1955, Zardari was brought up and educated in Karachi. He was married to Pakistan’s former prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s daughter, Benazir Bhutto, who was assassinated in December 2007.

Chinese President Xi said he highly regards the development of China-Pakistan relations and is ready to work with President Zardari to carry forward the traditional friendship between China and Pakistan. File
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Chinese President Xi Jinping on March 10 congratulated Asif Ali Zardari on his election as the Pakistan President, saying that the “iron-clad friendship” between the two countries is a “choice of history” and the “strategic significance” of the ties has become more “prominent” in the light of current changes in the world.

Mr. Zardari, the husband of late Pakistan Prime Minister, Benazir Bhutto was overwhelmingly elected as the 14th President of Pakistan on Saturday, becoming the only civilian president of the coup-prone country for a second time.

Mr. Zardari, the co-chairperson of the Pakistan Peoples Party, was the joint candidate of the ruling alliance of the PPP and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N).

In his message to Mr. Zardari on Sunday, Mr. Xi said “China and Pakistan are good neighbours, good friends, good partners and good brothers, adding that the two countries’ iron-clad friendship is a choice of history and a precious treasure of the two peoples.”

Mr. Xi said that “the two countries have in recent years maintained close high-level exchanges, supported each other on issues concerning their respective core interests and major concerns, achieved fruitful results in the construction of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and maintained a high level of development of bilateral relations,” state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

India has objected to China over the $60 billion CPEC connecting China’s Xinjiang with Gwadar port in Balochistan as it is being laid through Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK).

Mr. Xi in his message said, that as the world is confronted with accelerated changes unseen in a century, the strategic significance of China-Pakistan relations has become more prominent.

Mr. Xi said he highly regards the development of China-Pakistan relations, and is ready to work with President Zardari to carry forward the traditional friendship between China and Pakistan, advance practical cooperation in various fields, push for greater development of China-Pakistan all-weather strategic cooperative partnership, accelerate the building of an even closer China-Pakistan community with a shared future in the new era, so as to better benefit the two peoples.

Earlier, Mr. Xi greeted Shehbaz Sharif on being elected as Pakistan’s Prime Minister.

The return of Mr. Shehbaz and his brother Nawaz Sharif as well as Mr. Zardari at the helm of Pakistan’s politics and government in the midst of chaos and severe economic crisis in Pakistan is viewed with a sense of relief here as all three of them over their years in power in the past few decades maintained close ties with Chinese leaders and furthered the strategic ties with Beijing viewed widely as a strategic alliance against India.

China had an uneasy relationship with former prime minister Imran Khan’s government which was blamed for the slow pace of $60 billion CPEC.

China has been providing forex loans and rollover of its debt periodically to bail out Pakistan which is facing a severe economic crisis.

Recent reports from Islamabad said China has agreed to roll over a $2 billion loan due to be paid in March.

File photo of Pakistan Peoples Party co-chairperson Asif Ali Zardari. He was elected as the Pakistan’s 14th President becoming the head of state for second time.
| Photo Credit: AP

Pakistan Peoples Party co-chairperson Asif Ali Zardari was elected as Pakistan’s 14th President on March 9, becoming the head of state for a second time.

Mr. Zardari, 68, was the joint candidate of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) while his rival Mahmood Khan Achakzai, 75, was the candidate of the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC).

The new President was elected by the electoral college of the newly elected members of the National Assembly and the four provincial assemblies, as per the provisions of the Constitution.

Editorial |Old beginning: On Pakistan politics

A businessman-turned-politician, Mr. Zardari is the husband of slain Pakistan prime minister Benazir Bhutto.

He received 255 votes while his opponent got 119, Pakistani media reported.

Mr. Zardari would replace the incumbent Dr Arif Alvi, whose five-year term ended last year. However, he has continued since the new electoral college was not yet formed.

Mr. Zardari, who served as the president from 2008 to 2013, will also be the first civilian to be elected for the second time as president.

Achakzai is the head of his Pashtoonkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP) and was contesting from the platform of the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC), which came to prominence after independent candidates backed by jailed former prime minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) joined it.

Islamabad:

Pakistan Peoples Party co-chairperson Asif Ali Zardari was elected as Pakistan’s 14th President on Saturday, becoming the head of state for a second time.

Zardari, 68, was the joint candidate of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) while his rival Mahmood Khan Achakzai, 75, was the candidate of the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC).

He received 255 votes while his opponent got 119 votes in the National Assembly and the Senate.

The new president was elected by the electoral college of the newly elected members of the National Assembly and the four provincial assemblies, as per the provisions of the Constitution.

In the Sindh Assembly, where Zardari’s PPP is at the helm, he bagged the most votes while he also swept the Balochistan Assembly votes bagging all votes polled there.

He also defeated Achakzai in the Punjab assembly.

In the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa assembly, where SIC/PTI has the government, Achakzai got the most votes against Zardari.

A businessman-turned-politician, Zardari is the husband of slain Pakistan prime minister Benazir Bhutto.

Zardari would replace the incumbent Dr Arif Alvi, whose five-year term ended last year. However, he has continued since the new electoral college was not yet formed.

Zardari, who served as the president from 2008 to 2013, will also be the first civilian to be elected for the second time as president. He is expected to be sworn in on Sunday.

Achakzai is the head of his Pashtoonkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP) and was contesting from the platform of the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC), which came to prominence after independent candidates backed by jailed former prime minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf joined it.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

The six-party alliance, set to form a coalition government at the Centre under the PML-N Shehbaz Sharif, has already announced Asif Ali Zardari as its consensus candidate for the country’s top constitutional office. File
| Photo Credit: PTI

Still struggling to address the rigging allegations after general elections in the country, Pakistan is now gearing up to elect the new president by March 9.

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) is set to hold an election for the office of the country’s president by March 9, two days before the retirement of half of the senators after completing their six-year term, Dawn reported quoting sources.

Also Read | Pakistan’s election commission forms high-level committee to probe poll rigging allegations

“The president will be elected by the present senators after setting up of all the four provincial assemblies,” a senior Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) office-bearer said, adding that the election could take place on March 9 or 10.

The six-party alliance, set to form a coalition government at the Centre under the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Shehbaz Sharif, has already announced Asif Ali Zardari as its consensus candidate for the country’s top constitutional office.

Mr. Zardari previously served as the president from September 2008 to 2013 after the resignation of the military ruler Pervez Musharraf.

Article 41(4) of the Constitution says that “election to the office of president shall be held not earlier than sixty days and not later than thirty days before the expiration of the term of the president in office: Provided that, if the election cannot be held within the period aforesaid because the National Assembly is dissolved, it shall be held within thirty days of the general election to the Assembly”.

Since the general elections were held on February 8, the presidential election is required to be conducted by March 9, just two days before the retirement of half of the 100-member Senate.

The sources said the Senate elections were also due in the first week of March, but because of the delay in the general elections of the National and provincial assemblies, the Senate elections will now be held either in the last week of March or the first week of April which means the upper house will remain dysfunctional and incomplete for some period.

According to a PPP leader, it is because of the upcoming presidential election and to ensure Mr. Zardari’s win that the party has stopped its two senators, Nisar Khuhro and Jam Mahtab Dahar, from taking the oath as MPAs in the Sindh Assembly.

According to the formula applied for the president’s election, the vote of a senator is counted as a single vote, whereas in the Sindh Assembly, one vote will be equal to nearly four votes.

In this way, Mr. Zardari will get benefit in the presidential elections.

Incumbent President Dr. Arif Alvi is already on an extended tenure after completing his five-year term on September 9 last year.

Article 44(1) of the Constitution says that the president will hold office for a term of five years from the day he assumes charge, but he continues to hold the office until a successor is chosen.

Dr. Alvi is the country’s fourth democratically elected president to complete the five-year term. The three presidents before Dr. Alvi who completed their full terms were Chaudhary Fazal Elahi (fifth president, from 1973 to 1978), Asif Ali Zardari (11th, from 2008 to 2013), and Mamnoon Hussain (12th, from 2013 to 2018).

Therefore, Dr. Alvi is the third consecutive president to have a full term and the first one to have an extended term due to an incomplete electoral college, which comprises the National Assembly, Senate and the four provincial assemblies.

The term-wise data of senators suggests that the PML-N and the PPP stand to lose a large chunk of their members — 69 per cent and 57 per cent, respectively — as they retire on March 11 after completing their terms.

But after the February 8 polls, both the PML-N and PPP will be able to add to their tally in the Senate. The PTI, however, will be at a definite disadvantage if it fails to conduct the intra-party elections before the Senate polls, and it may have to depend on the SIC to get representation in the upper house of the parliament.

Up until now, the total strength of the Senate has been 100, including 23 members each from the four federating units and four each from erstwhile Fata and Islamabad.

The 23 seats allocated to a province comprise 14 general seats, four reserved for women, four for technocrats and one for a minority member.

This time around, though, only 96 members will grace the chamber as the representation of the erstwhile tribal areas will end following their merger with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa under the 25th Constitutional Amendment.

This means that the upcoming elections to the Senate will elect 48 new senators — 11 each from all four provinces on general and technocrats’ seats, two from Islamabad and two minority members from Punjab and Sindh.

At present, the house has 97 members due to the death of PML-N’s Rana Maqbool Ahmed and the resignations of PTI’s Shaukat Tarin and Anwaarul Haq Kakar of the Balochistan Awami Party (BAP) after assuming the office of the caretaker prime minister.

The term of a senator is six years, but half of them retire every three years, and elections are held for new members, according to Dawn.