Born in 1955, Mr Zardari was introduced up and educated in Karachi
Islamabad:
Asif Ali Zardari on Sunday took oath as Pakistan’s 14th President, a day after the veteran politician staged a exceptional comeback when he was overwhelmingly elected as the one civilian president of the coup-prone nation for a second time.
Chief Justice of Pakistan Qazi Faez Isa administered the oath to the 68-year-old Mr Zardari in a small but formal ceremony at Aiwan-e-Sadr, the Presidential Palace.
Mr Zardari replaces Dr Arif Alvi, who stayed in workplace for 5 months after finishing his five-year time period in September 2023.
The swearing-in ceremony was attended by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Chief of Military Workers Common Asim Munir and Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Workers Committee Common Sahir Shamshad Mirza amongst different senior military and civilian officers and diplomats.
The outgoing president Mr Alvi, a senior member of jailed former prime minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf social gathering, additionally attended the oath-taking ceremony.
Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and Zardari’s son Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, his daughters Aseefa Bhutto Zardari and Bakhtawar Bhutto Zardari and different relations had been current on the event.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has congratulated Mr Zardari on his election because the president for the second time period.
In a message, Shehbaz Sharif stated that the Senate, Nationwide Meeting and elected members of all of the 4 provincial assemblies have expressed their confidence in Zardari. He stated that the Zardari might be an emblem of the energy of the federation.
That is the second time that Mr Zardari has received the presidency, a file for any civilian. Earlier he served because the eleventh president of Pakistan from 2008 to 2013 and is among the 4 democratically elected presidents to have accomplished their five-year constitutional time period.
He has been a member of the Nationwide Meeting of Pakistan since August 2018.
Co-chairman of the Pakistan Peoples Social gathering (PPP), Mr Zardari was the joint candidate of the ruling alliance and was elected on Saturday after he defeated Mahmood Khan Achakzai, a candidate backed by jailed former prime minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf and Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) by an enormous margin.
Born in 1955, Mr Zardari was introduced 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.
“Congratulations to all democrats on the swearing in of Asif Ali Zardari because the President of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, God prepared, Asif Ali Zardari will use all his powers because the President of Pakistan for the political, democratic and constitutional stability of the nation and the nation might be on the journey of improvement. Will proceed,” the social gathering posted on its social media X deal with.
The workplace of the president is a ceremonial publish, and he acts on the recommendation of the prime minister. However Mr Zardari is anticipated to play a bigger function as his PPP is a key accomplice of the coalition authorities.
Whereas the chief ministers of Punjab and Sindh attended the ceremony, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa chief minister Ali Amin Gandapur, who belongs to the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf social gathering was not current.
By the way, virtually 12 years in the past, Qazi Faez Isa, who was then the Balochistan Excessive Courtroom’s Chief Justice and headed a Fee that investigated what was generally known as the Memogate scandal for over 5 months and exonerated Mr Zardari from any direct involvement within the memo scandal.
On Saturday, Mr Zardari secured 411 electoral votes in Parliament and all 4 provincial assemblies with the backing of allied events – primarily Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and the Muttahida Qaumi Motion-Pakistan (MQM-P) towards Achakzai’s 181 electoral votes.
An electoral faculty comprising lawmakers belonging to federal and provincial assemblies votes for the president.
After the partition in 1947, Pakistan’s first president was Iskandar Mirza who took workplace on March 23, 1956 after the primary structure was adopted and the nation grew to become a republic. Earlier than that the nation was led by the governor generals who dominated below the amended India Act of 1935.
In an editorial, the Daybreak newspaper famous that Mr Zardari was the nation’s first civilian president to finish his tenure and his election as president has made him the primary Pakistani to carry that workplace twice.
“It’s evident that his fashion of politics has stored foreign money within the corridors of energy regardless of the various sociopolitical modifications this nation has seen because the final time he occupied the presidency. It’s, undoubtedly, a exceptional comeback orchestrated by a pointy political thoughts,” the editorial commented.
Each Shehbaz and Mr Zardari have returned to their earlier roles now and sit on the pinnacle of their political careers, an editorial in The Categorical Tribune newspaper stated.
“Earlier, Mr Zardari was dubbed as an unintended beneficiary coming into the presidency. Nevertheless, this time round, he ensured that the well timed wheeling and dealing between the 2 main political events – his PPP and the PML-N — paved the best way for his return to the presidency,” it commented.
Consistent with Mr Zardari’s straightforward win within the vote involving legislators from Parliament and 4 provincial assemblies, there are hopes that the duo’s rule will mark a brand new part of stability within the nation,” it added.
(Aside from the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV workers and is revealed from a syndicated feed.)
