Asif Ali Zardari set to return as Pakistan president

Former President of Pakistan and President of Pakistan Peoples' Party (PPP), Asif Ali Zardari gestures towards supporters during a campaign rally for the 2024 general elections in Garhi Khuda Bakhsh village, Larkana, Pakistan on December 27, 2023.
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Updated 09 March 2024
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Asif Ali Zardari set to return as Pakistan president

  • Between 2008 and 2013, he ushered in constitutional reforms, and the 68-year-old’s second term will see him steer a largely ceremonial office
  • He has spent more than 11 years in jail, a long time even by the standards of Pakistani politicians, with a wheeler-dealer’s talent for bouncing back

ISLAMABAD: Asif Ali Zardari, the widower of Pakistan’s slain first female premier Benazir Bhutto who has had a life storied equally by tragedy and farce, is set to become president for a second time on Saturday.

Initially a background character as Bhutto’s consort, Zardari was stained by a bevy of corruption and other allegations, including absurd kidnapping plots and taking kickbacks lavished on hoards of jewelry.

Despite a reputation as “Mr. Ten Percent” — the alleged cut he took for rubber-stamping contracts — a sympathy vote propelled him to office when his wife was assassinated in a 2007 bomb and gun attack.

Between 2008 and 2013, he ushered in constitutional reforms rolling back presidential powers, and the 68-year-old’s second term will see him steer a largely ceremonial office.




Former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto (L) rests inside the presidential car with husband Asif Ali Zardari cuddling their baby son Bilawal shortly after their arrival in Kuala Lumpur on October 17, 1989 to attend the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting.

He has spent more than 11 years in jail, a long time even by the standards of Pakistani politicians, with a wheeler-dealer’s talent for bouncing back after scandals.

Back in 2009, the New York Times said he had a knack for “artful dodging” — “maneuvering himself out of the tight spots he gets himself into.”

Newly sworn-in lawmakers were set to vote him in under the terms of a coalition deal brokered after February 8 elections marred by rigging claims.

Under that deal, Zardari’s Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) will take the presidency, while its historic rivals the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party secured the prime minister’s position for Shehbaz Sharif, who was officially sworn in on Monday.

Zardari was born in 1955 into a land-owning family from the southern province of Sindh.




Chairman of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Bilawal Bhutto Zardari (L) chats with his father and Pakistan's former president Asif Ali Zardari (R) prior to presenting their party manifesto for the forthcoming general election during a press conference in Islamabad on June 28, 2018. (AFP/File)

“As a child, I was spoilt by my parents as an only son,” he said in a 2000 interview with the Guardian newspaper. “They indulged my every whim.”

He expressed only limited political ambitions as a young man — losing a 1983 local government election.

It was his 1987 arranged marriage with PPP leader Benazir Bhutto that earned him a spot in the political limelight.

Their union — brokered by Bhutto’s mother — was considered an unlikely pairing for a leader-in-waiting from one of Pakistan’s major political dynasties.

Bhutto was an Oxford and Harvard graduate driven by the desire to oust then-president Mohammad Zia-ul-Haq, who forced her father from the prime minister’s office and had him executed.




Pakistani People's Party (PPP) leader, Benazir Bhutto (R) is seen during her wedding where she is getting married to Asif Ali Zardari in Karachi December 18, 1987. (AFP/File)

Zardari was a university dropout with a reputation for brawling, partying and romancing women at a private disco in his family home.

On the eve of their wedding, Bhutto’s team issued a formal statement denying he was “a playboy who plays polo by day and frequents discos at night.”

Their nuptial celebrations were dubbed the “people’s wedding” — doubling as a political rally in the megacity of Karachi, where a crowd of 100,000 fervently chanted PPP slogans.

Initially, Zardari pledged to keep out of politics.

Bhutto served as prime minister from 1988 to 1990 — the first woman to head a democratic government in a Muslim country — and again from 1993 to 1996.

PPP insiders regarded Zardari as a liability, considering him likely to embarrass her leadership.

Their fears were perhaps well-founded. In 1990, he was embroiled in accusations of an absurd plot to extort a businessman by tying a bomb to his leg.

He was jailed for three years on extortion and kidnapping charges but was elected to the national assembly from behind bars.

In Bhutto’s second term, he served as investment minister.




Pakistan's new President Asif Ali Zardari stands in front of a portrait of his slain wife Benazir Bhutto and waves as he arrives for a joint press conference at The Presidential Palace in Islamabad on September 9, 2008. (AFP/File)

A bombshell New York Times investigation detailed how he tried to engineer vast kickbacks on military contracts over this period while lavishing huge sums on jewelry.

After Bhutto’s government fell in 1996, Zardari was back behind bars within half an hour.

In December 2007, Bhutto was assassinated while on the campaign trail for a third term in office.

Her killing shook the nation to its core, a wave of sympathy carrying the PPP to victory in 2008. The party nominated Zardari as president.

In 2010, he was widely criticized for continuing a European holiday when the nation was devastated by floods that killed almost 1,800 and affected 21 million.

He was also head of state when US commandos trespassed onto Pakistani soil for the 2011 assassination of Osama Bin Laden, an episode that humiliated many compatriots.

He did, however, usher in constitutional reforms rolling back the sweeping powers of the presidency and bolstering parliamentary democracy that had been undermined by three decades of military rule since 1947.

In 2013, Zardari became the first Pakistani president to complete his full term.

He was jailed once again over money laundering charges in 2019 but was released months later.

Zardari and Benazir had three children, including Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, the current chairman of the PPP.


Pakistani security forces kill three militants in intelligence-based operation in northwest

Updated 08 March 2025
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Pakistani security forces kill three militants in intelligence-based operation in northwest

  • The operation in Tank came just days after a twin suicide bombing in Bannu this week
  • Military’s media wing says weapons and ammunition were recovered from the slain militants

KARACHI: Pakistani security forces killed three militants in an intelligence-based operation in the northwestern Tank district on Saturday, the military’s media wing, Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), said in a statement.
The operation in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province occurred days after a twin suicide bombing killed at least 18 people in nearby Bannu. The region has experienced increased militant violence since a ceasefire between the government and the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) collapsed in late 2022.
Pakistan refers to TTP fighters as “khawarij,” a term historically describing an extremist sect in early Islam known for rebelling against authority and declaring other Muslims apostates.
“On 08 March 2025, Security Forces conducted an intelligence-based operation in Tank District on reported presence of khawarij,” the ISPR said. “During the conduct of operation, own troops effectively engaged the khawarij location, as a result of which, three khawarij were sent to hell.”
The military recovered weapons and ammunition from the slain militants, who were allegedly involved in numerous attacks against security forces and civilians.
The ISPR informed a “sanitization operation” was underway to eliminate any remaining militants in the area, expressing the resolve of the security forces to eradicate extremist violence from the country.


UK jails man for smuggling firearm parts from Pakistan in hidden car shipment

Updated 08 March 2025
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UK jails man for smuggling firearm parts from Pakistan in hidden car shipment

  • Yasir Khan pleaded guilty to smuggling Glock components hidden in a 1976 Datsun Sunny
  • Khan is suspected of a similar importation in Nov. 2023 by the National Crime Agency

ISLAMABAD: A 40-year-old man who attempted to smuggle 72 firearm parts in a car shipped from Pakistan to the United Kingdom was sentenced to eight years in prison on Friday, the London-based National Crime Agency (NCA) said in a statement.
Yasir Khan pleaded guilty to the crime after an NCA investigation proved he was behind an attempt to smuggle 36 top slides and 36 barrels for 9mm Glock self-loading pistols in a 1976 Datsun Sunny.
The NCA operates across the UK, tackling serious and organized crime, including human trafficking, drug and arms smuggling and financial offenses. It works closely with other government agencies, including Border Force, to combat illicit trade and transnational crime.
The NCA statement said the haul was expertly hidden in the vehicle.
“Working with our law enforcement partners at home and abroad, preventing illegal firearms from reaching the streets of the UK is a key priority for the NCA,” David Phillips, a senior investigating officer with the agency, said while commenting on the development.
“The NCA and Border Force have prevented this huge array of component parts from entering the criminal marketplace and being used to produce lethal firearms for organized crime groups.”
The illegal firearm parts were concealed beneath the windscreen, behind the engine block and inside the fuel tank. They were discovered by Border Force officers during a search at London Gateway Port on July 7, 2024.
NCA officers launched an investigation, and Khan, who claimed to be a car dealer, was arrested by the agency’s Armed Operations Unit on July 12 in Birmingham’s Jewlery Quarter.
Khan appeared in Birmingham Crown Court on Friday and was sentenced after pleading guilty to smuggling firearms.
The NCA statement said investigating officers discovered voice notes on his phone, providing evidence of his contact with a supplier in Pakistan who had access to manufacturing firearm components.
The supplier had invited Khan to visit “the factory” in summer 2023.
Khan is suspected of a similar importation in November 2023. Mobile phone voice notes and videos showed him struggling with ammunition jamming in firearms after they were constructed and test-fired.
Evidence also revealed that during 2023, Khan purchased several deactivated firearms, which he is believed to have converted back into fully functional lethal weapons.


Pakistan’s deputy PM urges OIC to reject Palestinian displacement, calls it a ‘red line’

Updated 08 March 2025
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Pakistan’s deputy PM urges OIC to reject Palestinian displacement, calls it a ‘red line’

  • Ishaq Dar says history will not judge Muslim nations by their words but by their actions on the Palestine issue
  • He condemns Benjamin Netanyahu’s recent suggestion that a Palestinian state be established in Saudi Arabia

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar on Saturday condemned plans to forcibly relocate Palestinians from their homeland, labeling such actions a “red line” and urging the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) to take decisive measures to hold Israel accountable for its actions in Gaza and the West Bank.
Dar, who also serves as the country’s foreign minister, is currently in Saudi Arabia, having arrived on Thursday to participate in the OIC foreign ministers’ session on Palestine held in the port city of Jeddah.
The session was convened in response to US President Donald Trump’s proposal to permanently displace over 2 million Palestinians from Gaza, with plans to transform the area into an international beach resort.
This was widely condemned by majority-Muslim nations and international rights organizations, with Arab leaders endorsing an Egyptian-led reconstruction plan for Gaza, valued at $53 billion, which aims to prevent Palestinian displacement.
“The Muslim Ummah must make it unequivocally clear: any attempt to forcibly relocate the Palestinian people, whether from Gaza or the West Bank, is ethnic cleansing and a war crime under international law,” Dar asserted during his address at the OIC special session.
“The OIC must categorically reject any proposal that seeks to eject the Palestinians from their own homeland,” he added. “No external force has the right to dictate their future to the Palestinians. They must determine their own future, through an exercise of self-determination.”

This handout photo shows Pakistan Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar (center) participating in the Organization of Islamic Cooperation foreign ministers’ session on Palestine, in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia on March 8, 2025. (Photo courtesy: Handout/MOFA)

The Pakistani deputy prime minister emphasized that the notion of Palestinian displacement “must be recognized as a red line,” urging the OIC to collectively oppose and obstruct any such move.
“This is a defining moment for the Muslim Ummah,” he continued. “History will not judge us by our words but by our actions... The OIC must rise to this challenge with unity, resolve and purpose. Another Nakba cannot and must not be allowed to happen.”
Dar condemned Israel for obstructing humanitarian aid to Gaza and warned that sustainable peace cannot be achieved as long as Israeli military operations, settler violence and illegal land annexations persist.
He called for the revival of a credible and irreversible political process toward a two-state solution, leading to the establishment of an independent and sovereign Palestine.
“The OIC must mobilize its collective influence to press for the recognition of the state of Palestine as a full member of the United Nations,” he urged.
Dar also criticized Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s recent suggestion that a Palestinian state be established in Saudi Arabia.
“This is an insult to the entire Muslim Ummah,” he said. “Pakistan expresses its full solidarity with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and commends its steadfast support for the Palestinian cause.”


US warns nationals against travel to Pakistan, citing ‘terrorism’ and conflict risks

Updated 08 March 2025
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US warns nationals against travel to Pakistan, citing ‘terrorism’ and conflict risks

  • The advisory particularly stops US citizens from traveling to KP, Balochistan and areas near the Line of Control
  • It asks US government personnel to obtain special authorization before going out of the major urban centers

ISLAMABAD: The United States Department of State issued a travel advisory to Pakistan on Friday, urging its citizens to reconsider travel to the South Asian country “due to terrorism and the potential for armed conflict.”
The advisory comes days after President Donald Trump told the US Congress Pakistan had apprehended an Daesh militant involved in the 2021 Kabul airport suicide bombing, which killed 13 US service members and nearly 170 Afghans. 
Pakistan has also been ranked as the world’s second-most affected country by “terrorism” in a global index published by the Australian-based Institute for Economics and Peace, which surveyed 163 countries covering 99.7 percent of the world’s population.
Pakistan has experienced a significant surge in militant violence, particularly in its western provinces of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan, where groups like the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) have targeted civilians and security forces.
The Level 3 travel advisory urges American nationals to reconsider travel to Pakistan while designating a Level 4 threat for the two volatile provinces and areas near the de facto border separating the Pakistani and Indian sides of Kashmir.
“Violent extremist groups continue to plot attacks in Pakistan,” the advisory noted.
“Do not travel to Balochistan Province and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Province, which include the former Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), due to terrorism,” it continued, also advising against travel to “the immediate vicinity of the India-Pakistan border and the Line of Control due to terrorism and the potential for armed conflict.”
The advisory noted that militant groups may attack with little or no warning, targeting transportation hubs, markets, shopping malls, military installations, airports, universities, tourist attractions, schools, hospitals, places of worship and government facilities.
It also highlighted that proscribed armed groups have targeted US diplomats and diplomatic facilities in the past.
“Pakistan’s security environment remains fluid, sometimes changing with little or no notice,” the advisory said. “There are greater security resources and infrastructure in the major cities, particularly Islamabad, and security forces in these areas may be more readily able to respond to an emergency compared to other areas of the country.”
It warned the US government has limited ability to provide services to US citizens in KP, Balochistan, Azad Kashmir and most areas outside the major cities.
“Due to the risks, US government personnel working in Pakistan must obtain special authorization to travel to most areas outside of Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi,” it added.


‘I belong here’: Pakistan’s legendary classical dancer, whose art and activism are acts of defiance

Updated 08 March 2025
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‘I belong here’: Pakistan’s legendary classical dancer, whose art and activism are acts of defiance

  • Sheema Kermani, who has led a five-decade-long feminist movement, says dance is integral to Pakistani culture
  • A vocal advocate for oppressed nations, she was asked to leave a diplomatic event after voicing support for Gaza

KARACHI: A veteran Pakistani classical dancer, who co-founded a feminist organization as early as the 1970s, said on Friday her entire career was an act of defiance against societal norms, as she earned recognition for championing women’s rights through artistic performances and activism.
Born into a family that valued the arts, Sheema Kermani said she was exposed to music, literature, theater and painting from an early age.
Initially, she studied fine arts but later embraced classical dance as a form of expression, training under Guru Ghanshyam and his wife, two prominent dancers originally from Bombay, who set up the Rhythmic Arts Academy in Karachi, contributing to the city’s cultural landscape.
However, she said her passion was restrained under the military rule of General Zia-ul-Haq, who seized power in 1977, just two years after she began dancing, and imposed strict Islamic laws, banning dance and music.
“My dance, without me wanting it to, became a form of protest,” she told Arab News. “It became an act of defiance, but defiance through art.”
“It was a statement saying this is beautiful, this is love, this is devotion, this is a celebration of nature, of the universe, of life, and I will continue doing it,” she added.
Kermani said the general tried to legitimize his rule by launching a program to transform Pakistan into an Islamic state, making people believe that music and dance were alien to their country’s culture.
“But I felt it was part of our culture,” she continued, arguing that a look at Indus Valley Civilization excavations reveals statues of dancing figurines, proving the historical roots of performance arts in the region.
In the late 1970s, Kermani co-founded Tehreek-e-Niswan, a feminist organization that used art to advocate for women’s rights. She also worked as an actor, starring in several dramas, including the popular “Chand Grehan,” where she played the role of Ameer-ul-Nisa.
Kermani said her activism extended beyond the stage, making her instrumental in launching Aurat March in 2018, an annual demonstration advocating for gender equality and social justice.
“We wanted to say that the road is also our space, the park is also our space,” she said. “Why should we be confined only within four walls and a veil? We are equal humans. So, recognize us as equal human beings, and we will fight for our spaces.”
Held annually on March 8 to celebrate International Women’s Day, Aurat March takes place in major cities like Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad, often sparking debates due to its bold slogans and demands for legal, social and economic reforms. Over the years, it has gained momentum, drawing thousands of participants from diverse backgrounds.


For Kermani, the day symbolizes global feminist solidarity.
“It’s about our freedoms, it’s about our liberties, it’s about the celebration of those women who died but who struggled, who fought, who kept on fighting and left something better for their daughters to follow,” she said.
This year, Aurat March will be held on May 11, aligning with Mother’s Day to highlight unpaid labor and a woman’s right to choose motherhood.
Kermani said March 8 will focus on solidarity with Palestinian women, who have suffered due to the brutal conflict in Gaza, and Afghan women, who are denied education.
Kermani said such global causes came close to her heart and recalled how she was asked to leave a British diplomatic event in November 2023 after she raised pro-Palestinian slogans.
“I see in the future a society where there is no war,” she said. “You know, I think women will play a role in that because women are basically, I think, intrinsically anti-war. Women are nurturers, they give birth to children, they raise children, they create harmony and love between humans.”
Asked if she ever thought of moving abroad in the face of opposition, she said that while other dancers left Pakistan when their profession was banned under Zia’s regime, she instead chose to perform solo.
“Why should I go away from this country?” she asked. “It’s my country, my heritage and my culture.”
She said she would continue to perform and advocate for social change.
“I don’t feel tired. I think I’ll do it till I die because it makes me happy.”