Washington: Refusing to be "intimidated" by
a slew of "ancient" corruption charges, Pakistan President
Asif Ali Zardari has warned that forces who were earlier
allied with dictatorship were now plotting to undo democracy
and destabilise his government through judicial process.
"I have spent almost 12 years in prison on trumped up
charges never proven, even by a court system manipulated by
dictators and despots. But like Benazir, I refuse to be
intimidated," Zardari wrote in an op-ed piece in the Wall
Street Journal.
Some of these forces who were allied with dictatorship
in the past now hope that the judicial process can undo the
will of a democratic electorate and destabilise the country,
Zardari, who is facing the heat following the Supreme Court's
annulment of the controversial corruption immunity granted to
him and some 8000 other officials, said.
"A litany of ancient charges of corruption? The modus
operandi of past plots against every democratically elected
government in Pakistan? Now threatens to undermine the
legitimacy of our government," he says in the article,
published on the second death anniversary of the assassination
of his wife, Benazir.
"My ministers, my party, leaders of other parties and
thousands of civil servants across our nation will defend
themselves in the courts if necessary," he says, adding that
he was unfazed by the legal fight ahead.
"So let the legal process move forward. Those of us who
have fought for democracy against dictatorship for decades do
not fear justice; we embrace it," he said.
Zardari said Pakistani forces have reclaimed Swat and
Malakand from the militants and rehabilitated the displaced
persons back into their homes.
"We have taken the fight against militants to other
areas, including South Waziristan in our Federally
Administered Tribal Areas, and to our major cities, and we
will win this war against them.
"We will not let militants violently impose their
political agenda on the people. Political ownership of the war
against terrorism rests with the people of Pakistan for the
first time," he said.
Bureau Report
First Published: Monday, December 28, 2009, 14:12