Pakistan government makes history

PALISTAN: Pakistan's government has become the first in history to complete a full term in office.

When the Pakistan People's Party won elections in 2008 on a wave of national grief over the assassination of its leader Benazir Bhutto few imagined her widower would prove such an adept, agile and long-standing president.

Asif Ali Zardari has managed to achieve what alluded all previous civilian rulers in Pakistan.

For the first time a civilian government has completed a full five-year term in office and will be handing over to another elected government in a country which has seen three bloodless military coups and four military rulers. Helped by the army chief of staff's determination to keep to the sidelines and the opposition's unwillingness to force early elections, Zardari's ability has been crucial to keeping his government together.

Political analyst Jaffer Ahmed, director of the Pakistan Studies department at Karachi University, said Zardari's record has been mixed at best, with his greatest asset the pragmatism needed to stay the course.

Parliament has passed more legislation than any of its predecessors.

In 2010, Zardari relinquished much of his power to the Prime Minister, rolling back on decades of meddling by military rulers in an effort to institutionalise parliamentary democracy. His government sought to devolve powers to the provinces and introduced reforms that will for the first time allow parties to contest elections in the tribal belt, a den of Taliban and Al-Qaeda militants under only semi-government control.

AFP