Adil Najam
Can you please grade for us the performance of the five power centers in Pakistan: the President, the Prime Minister, the Chief Justice, the Chief of Army, the Leader of the Opposition, and the Media. The focus, once again, is on how you think they have performed in these. That is, NOT what you think of Mr. Zardari in general, but what you think of his performance as President.
Back in June 2009 we had asked our readers to grade the performance of those at the helm of powers in Pakistan. Then in September 2009 we had asked you to grade the performance of the Pakistan media. (Earlier in September 2006, you had also graded Gen. Musharraf). It is now time to do a followup and see what people think now, especially after recent political developments.
In this latest installment of ATP Polls we would like to find out how you grade the performance of those holding key offices in Pakistan: President Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gillani, Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry, Chief of Army Staff Gen. Ashfaq Pervez Kiani, and Opposition Leader Nawaf Sharif. This time we have included the Media (as a whole and as an institution) since they also influence Pakistan’s power balance.
I know I am repeating myself (both in this post and from the previous one), and I also realize that at some level this appeal will be ignored, but do let me say again that the purpose of this exercise is not to see whether you like these people or not, it is to see what how you think they have been performing in the offices they now hold. It is perfectly possible to not particularly like someone but come to the conclusion that they are doing a decent job in what they have been assigned to do, or vice versa. So, please, even though this is just a fun exercise, use your vote justly.
Do also comment on how you think they have been performing, and what aspects of their performance influenced your vote.
Zardari – F – because he became President using Benazir’s death as a crutch not to mention a fake will and as if that was not enough we can see that all those stories of . . . he is a changed man and has read much . . . is BS . . . . he continues to place third rate, useless and highly corrupt people in top positions and even when these people are proven corrupt he refuses to remove them.
Gilani – B – just because he is keeping the peace and most of his time is spent firefighting. He has no talent or skill least of public speaking or knowledge of issues.
Kayani – Excellent – because not only the army is containing the Taliban menace and rolling it back (yes, they are responsible for starting this mess) and more importantly while Zardari and Nawaz fight it out for personal gain Kayani is making the important decisions to keep Pakistan going.
Iftikhar Choudhry – B – Not only he supported the army takeover in 1999 but currently he is just picking on Zardari and PPP as if PML(N) are all angels. Clearly he is very biased in his selection of cases. A CJ cannot act like political parties.
Media – Good – Yes it seems that all the anchors are on some party’s payroll but at least the public is being educated on issues and they are acting the part of the opposition since the opposition won’t do it.
Nawaz Sharif – F – All he is interested in is to punish Musharraf and become PM he does not give a damn about the people or their problems. Has he raised ANY issues concerning the people? Has his party shown any better performance in Punjab than PPP has at the centre? There is no difference.
There is no one looking out for Pakistan.
This says grading our leaders, banjara is an indian, he should be grading indian leaders.
Kiyani should round up the chors like Zardari and throw them to the taliban. Ifthikhar Chaudhry should be given the leadership of the country.
The good thing about our politics is that we practice a non-fascist politics. Being a Hitler or a Mussolini like “zaid zaman hamid” is not a difficult thing and our current scenario very much supports any fascist activity. But hats off to our politicians, bureaucrats and others to run a 21st century learnt democracy model.
I want to second banjara286 on his comment on Kiani. I have the same thoughts about Kiani. We are creating another dictator.
Zardari, Bad; PM, average; CJ, excellent; Kiani, Good; NS, Good; Media, excellent.