“Call me Mr. Zardari,” remarked Asif Ali Zardari on his last day of presidency when he was inquired as to what name he should be referred to, since he had completed his presidency term and the transformation from Mr. President to Mr. Zardari was to be made. The fact is that it was not just the transformation of an ordinary man’s name but is the alteration of this country’s history. It is for the first time ever in the history of Pakistan that a president selected from the people, by the people and for the people completed his legal tenure of presidency. So for five years President Zardari was called with this prefix added to his name officially and that has changed the history of Pakistan.
Now called as former President of Pakistan, Asif Ali Zardari made history on September 7, 2013 when he stepped down from his presidency after completion of successful five years tenure. He was the first democratically elected President in the history of Pakistan to fully complete his constitutional tenure. He left president house after a record of five years which no civilian president, chosen by the representatives of people, has ever achieved. As history will remember, Asif Ali Zardari was one of the most powerful civilian presidents the country ever had.
The truth is irrespective of his policies and their outcomes; Asif Ali Zardari set the country’s political stature upright and gave this country a push towards real democracy. His vision, his decisions and his position to strengthen the democratic system by empowering the country’s executive head, the Prime Minister of the country and pulling away excessive presidential powers has been categorized as one of the bravest and strongest voluntarily made moves by a president.
Analysts have penned down that Zardari’s “government's completion of a full term in a hostile political environment is to his credit, as well as his strong stance against Islamic militancy.” However, the truth remains that “Economic mismanagement hurt Zardari's popularity as a leader”.
President Zardari has earned the distinction of being the only democratically elected President in the 66-year history of Pakistan. He completed a full five year constitutional tenure. He is replaced by an elected individual. His successor is Mamnoon Hussain who will be confirmed on Monday, September 9, 2013.
Now after being done away from such a heavy responsibility Mr. Zardari is back in the politics game. Since following the court’s order over five months ago, President Asif Ali Zardari had to quit the chairmanship of Pakistan People Party (PPP) in order to keep only one executive position to his name. But now he is joining PPP back after completing his five year tenure of Presidency.
With Bilawal Bhutto as the patron-in-chief of the PPP, Mr Zardari is to be made “chairman through a resolution adopted by the party and endorsed by the central executive committee”, as was confirmed by party sources.
