Now that it is virtually certain that Musharraf is on his way out, and I hope he leaves today, we should speculatate on who should be the next president of this poor, benighted country, where two out of every five people are starving while the elite spend millions of taxpayers’ money on foreign junkets.
Unfortunately, there are very few people on the horizon who can be called honest and patriotic. Makhdoom Amin Fahim could be a suitable choice for the ceremonial post but he is a feudal who probably doesn’t know how traumatic is the situation on the ground. He doesn’t have to worry about prices of essential items going through the roof, because he has so much money he doesn’t know what to do with it.
Then there is Asif Ali Zardari, another feudal who loves the good life. But why should he opt to be president, since he himself is trying to make the president’s post powerless? In fact, he is probably the next prime minister, as he himself said that if the people or his party wanted it, he would opt for the top slot in the country. But he too is not free of controversy. What respect will he command when he meets leaders of foreign countries who know that he has been fined and given a suspended sentence by a Swiss court?
If I were asked to decide, I would select Dr. A. Q. Khan. The poor man has suffered a lot, and we have yet to hear his side of the story. I think it would be a good idea to conduct a poll to determine whether the people would like to have Dr. Abdul Qadeer Khan as the next president of Pakistan.
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