Zardari elected as 12th President of Pakistan

Pakistan Peoples Party Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari has been elected as the 12th President of Islamic Republic of Pakistan with thumping majority.

He received 479 electoral votes out of total 702 votes of the Electoral College. His contenders Saeeduz Zaman Siddiqui received 153 votes while Mushahid Hussain Syed got 43 electoral votes.

It is worth mentioning here that 352 votes were needed for the election of the President.

The voting for the election of the president held in the Parliament House for National Assembly and Senate; and in the four provincial assemblies today (Saturday) from 10:00 am to 3:00 pm.

There were three candidates contesting the presidential election including ruling coalition backed Asif Ali Zardari, PML-N nominated former Chief Justice Supreme Court of Pakistan Justice (retd) Saeeduz Zaman Siddiqui and former ruling party PML-Q’s secretary general Mushahid Hussain Syed.

In Parliament (National Assembly + Senate), 436 members cast their votes out of total 440, while 10 votes were declared in valid. Asif Ali Zardari received 281, Saeeduz Zaman Siddiqui 111 and Mushahid Hussain Syed got 34 votes.

In Punjab Assembly, all 370 votes were cast, out of which Zardari received 123 votes, justice Siddiqui got 201 while Mushahid received 36 votes. Ten votes were rejected in the house.

In Sindh Assembly, a total of 163 votes were cast out of total 166. Asif Ali Zardari received 162 votes, while one vote was declared invalid. Other two contesting candidates received no vote from the assembly.

In NWFP Assembly, all the 124 members cast their votes. Zardari received 107 votes, Justice Siddiqui 10 and Mushahid got 3 votes, while 4 votes were rejected.

In Balochistan Assembly, 63 out of 65 votes were cast, in which Zardari received 59, while Siddiqui and Mushahid got 2 votes each.

As per electoral votes, Zardari received 281 votes from Parliament, 62 from Sindh, 59 from Balochistan, 56 from NWFP and 21 from Punjab.

Chief Election Commissioner Qazi Mohammed Farooq will announce the official results of the presidential polls today in evening, afterward the Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Abdul Hameed Dogar will administered the oath of newly-elected President of the State.

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Don't compare yourself with anyone in this world. If you do so, you are insulting yourself.

MR Zardari is a very nivce MAN

Nothing change... Still Pakistan ka ALLAH hai Hafiz.

**

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Guy in the picture is Above Law but NOT U & ME.

.

YES TOO BAD SO SAD

SO WHAT NEXT MAY BE CHEIF OF ARMY STAFF?

EAST OR WEST ZARDARI IS THE BEST? CROOK, MR PERCENTAGE OR WHAT NEW

I want to congratulate my pessimistic Pakistani brethren on our newly elected president Mr Zardari. I don't understand why you people of Pakistan have to pick holes in everything you see around you.
I think Pakistan is on a right track of democracy; therefore please stop this 'negative propaganda' that Pakistan is at the verge of disintegration and that we are doomed because Mr Zardari is a president. I am quite sure Mr Zardari is a very very good option as compared to undignified pet of USA Gen Musharraf. Have some dignity people and be proud of the decisions of your countrymen, now if all of you personally would like your brother or father or whoever to be a president than please be assured there is no place in the world where you can nominate the whole population for the presidency.

May Allah bless my beautiful country Pakistan and its beautiful people. Pakistan Zindabad.

No body in this country is trying to condemn the parliamentary process but the main concern is the people in our politics. What dignity we talk about these politician? They have sold this nation for their own interest. What we need to see more in these politicians, it is not at all understandable.

hes a pig

I Just what to know from you that Y God is taking exam from the Poor Nation of Pakistan ......?

Zia Ul Haq

Mushraf

and Now Zaradi Sb......

OH God Please Bless us and forgive our sin's .....

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Saad Khushal Kiani
00966530678600
Maharaja Corporation

shakal se hi manhoos hai

Pakistan is still pakistan no matter what kind of fag is in the politics

IMHO nothing changed as this is just the face change

By the look of things, Pakistan is going through a very bad phase. I don't know how many people heard the speech made by the (Karachi) city nazim Mustafa Kamal. He declared Pakistan as a ship with loads of gold nuts. Whoever liked it preferred one gold nut for himself, thinking it wouldn't make any difference to the ship. The water would come in, but after a while it would stop. He said that now the stage is such that if anyone takes out even one more nut, the ship is going to sink. but I would admit that Pakistan has had too many *bad* heads. After Quaid-e-Azam, I think Bhutto was the best thing that ever happened to Pakistan.

I wish Imran khan could ever become president of Pak.... Smile

I think if Asif Ali Zardari is the candidate of Pakistan then we have to leave pakistan Immediately. If thief and robber can be president then all nobel people have to leave pakistan and they dont need to raise the ''Nara'' of Pakistan Zindabad. You know he has already been sentenced by Swiss Authorities. And already get amnety of robbing billion of rupees from Pakistan banks by Musharraf. and Came in the country by settlement of Musharraf and beg to Musharraf for NRO and when he came in. then he made another settlement with musharraf because there was no safe passage for Musharraf then they made another sattlement and give musharraf safe passage and now they will also protect musharraf by giving permission musharraf to stay in the country. This is no doube that Zardari is a robber of pakistani poor people.

Think this is the political Party and believe on Democracy. He made so called chairman of Pakistan Peoples Party just 16-17 Year old boy who dont know about the country and cant event speak the Pakistani National language. how he can lead the 60-70 Year old Peoples Party politicians. Let spose for a while that her mother was the best politician thats why. tell me Imran khan was the best cricketer is this possible that one of his son lead cricket team because his father was a good cricketer I hope you all will reply that. This is impossible, Another example that this party is totally undemocratic party because you have seen he alway putting her sister Faryal Talpur after his candidature. for example his candidature is challenged then his sister will become the next candidate. the politician in peoples party are the worse and dull ''JAHILIAT'' politicians of the world. who are just relating their willings with the one family. Zardari family. Because they know that this is the last chance of Peoples Party and they dont want to miss this chance of robbing people money last time. and zardari called their Ministers and Cabinet to robb the institutions and ministries saying that this could be the last chance.

'' LOOT LO JITNA LOOT SAKTAY HO HAMARAY PASS KUCH HI MAHEENAY HAIN''
Another all the Pakistani needs to this that if robber and Thief are becomming the leader and President of this national this is a matter of death of this nation. I just decided not to say ''Pakistan Zindabad'' after this because i dont feel proud to be a nation of that country in which we made robber or thief '' Choor and Dakoo'' President. I will put Lanat to these people who theft the bread of a poor people and take this out of the country. and the people are still giving the vote to these ''Zameer Faroosh'' People.

In 1990, Zardari was arrested on charges of blackmail, based on allegations that he attached a bomb to a Pakistani businessman, Murtaza Bukhari, and forced him to withdraw money from his bank account.[1] However, the charges were dropped when he was released from prison in 1993 when his wife's Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) took power and forced the charges out.[citation needed]

He was kept in custody from 1997 to 2004 on charges ranging from corruption to murder. He was granted bail and released in November 2004 when a judge released Zardari under great pressure. However, he was re-arrested on 21 December 2004 after his failure to attend a hearing in a murder trial in Karachi.

Corruption
Zardari and Benazir Bhutto denied corruption allegations; however, in August 2004, Zardari finally admitted owning a £4.35m estate in Surrey, England (including a 20-room mansion and two farms on 365 acres, or 1.5 km², of land), which the Pakistani authorities allege was bought with the proceeds of corruption.[2] Legal proceedings brought by the then Government of Pakistan against Zardari to recover the sale proceeds of the property are continuing before the High Court of Justice of England and Wales[citation needed]. In October 2006, the court dismissed Zardari's application to halt the proceedings on the basis that it did not have jurisdiction to hear the case[citation needed]. As of late 2007, Zardari is seeking permission to appeal that decision[citation needed].

French, Polish, Spanish, and Swiss documents have fuelled the charges of corruption against Bhutto and her husband. They faced a number of legal proceedings, including a charge of laundering money through Swiss banks. Though never convicted, her husband, Asif Ali Zardari, spent eight years in prison on similar corruption charges. After being released on bail in 2004, Zardari suggested that his time in prison involved torture; human rights groups have supported his claim that his rights were violated.[3]

A 1998 New York Times investigative report[4] claims that Pakistani investigators have documents that uncover a network of bank accounts, all linked to the family's lawyer in Switzerland, with Asif Zardari as the principal shareholder. According to the article, documents released by the French authorities indicated that Zardari offered exclusive rights to Dassault, a French aircraft manufacturer, to replace the air force's fighter jets in exchange for a 5% commission to be paid to a Swiss corporation controlled by Zardari. The article also said a Dubai company received an exclusive license to import gold into Pakistan for which Asif Zardari received payments of more than $10 million into his Dubai-based Citibank accounts. The owner of the company denied that he had made payments to Zardari and claims the documents were forged.

Bhutto maintained that the charges levelled against her and her husband were purely political.[5][6] An Auditor General of Pakistan (AGP) report supports Bhutto's claim. It presents information suggesting that Benazir Bhutto was ousted from power in 1990 as a result of a witch hunt approved by then-president Ghulam Ishaq Khan. The AGP report says Khan illegally paid legal advisers 28 million rupees to file 19 corruption cases against Bhutto and her husband in 1990-92.[7]

Yet the assets held by Bhutto and her husband continue to be scrutinized and speculated about. The prosecutors have alleged that their Swiss bank accounts contain £740 million.[8] Zardari also bought a neo-Tudor mansion and estate worth over £4 million in Surrey, England, UK.[9][10] The Pakistani investigations have tied other overseas properties to Zardari's family. These include a $2.5 million manor in Normandy owned by Zardari's parents, who had modest assets at the time of his marriage.[4] Bhutto denied holding substantive overseas assets.

Switzerland
On July 23, 1998, the Swiss Government handed over documents to the government of Pakistan which relate to corruption allegations against Benazir Bhutto and her husband.[11] The documents included a formal charge of money laundering by Swiss authorities against Zardari. The Pakistani government had been conducting a wide-ranging inquiry to account for more than $13.7 million frozen by Swiss authorities in 1997 that was allegedly stashed in banks by Bhutto and her husband. The Pakistani government recently filed criminal charges against Bhutto in an effort to track down an estimated $1.5 billion she and her husband are alleged to have received in a variety of criminal enterprises.[12] The documents suggest that the money Zardari was alleged to have laundered was accessible to Benazir Bhutto and had been used to buy a diamond necklace for over $175,000.[13] The PPP has responded by flatly denying the charges, suggesting that Swiss authorities have been misled by false evidence provided by the Government of Pakistan.

On August 6, 2003, Swiss magistrates found Bhutto and her husband guilty of money laundering.[14] They were given six-month suspended jail terms, fined $50,000 each and were ordered to pay $11 million to the Pakistani government. The six-year trial concluded that Bhutto and Zardari deposited in Swiss accounts $10 million given to them by a Swiss company in exchange for a contract in Pakistan. The couple said they would appeal. The Pakistani investigators say Zardari opened a Citibank account in Geneva in 1995 through which they say he passed some $40 million of the $100 million he received in payoffs from foreign companies doing business in Pakistan.[15] In October 2007, Daniel Zappelli, chief prosecutor of the canton of Geneva, said he received the conclusions of a money laundering investigation against former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto on October 29, but it was unclear whether there would be any further legal action against her in Switzerland.[16]

A Swiss investigating magistrate has amassed enough evidence, including the purchase of a diamond necklace, to indict Pakistan's former Prime Minister, Benazir Bhutto and husband on money-laundering charges tied to contracts with two Geneva-based companies. The magistrate, Daniel Devaud, decided not to bring the charges against Ms. Bhutto in Switzerland, but rather to ask Pakistani authorities to indict her. The Geneva magistrate has been conducting a wide-ranging inquiry seeking to account for more than $13.7 million frozen by Swiss authorities in 2006[citation needed].

The money was allegedly stashed in Swiss banks.[17] The public proceedings were required to be dropped against Bhutto due to her death; however, the proceedings are still continuing against Zardari as of late December 2007.[18]

Poland
The Polish Government has given Pakistan 500 pages of documentation relating to corruption allegations against Benazir Bhutto and her husband. These charges are in regard to the purchase of 8,000 tractors in a 1997 deal.[19][20] According to Pakistani officials, the Polish papers contain details of illegal commissions paid by the tractor company in return for agreeing to their contract.[21] It was alleged that the arrangement "skimmed" Rs 103 mn rupees ($2 million) in kickbacks.[22] "The documentary evidence received from Poland confirms the scheme of kickbacks laid out by Asif Zardari and Benazir Bhutto in the name of (the) launching of Awami tractor scheme", APP said. Bhutto and Asif Ali Zardari allegedly received a 7.15% commission on the purchase through their front men, Jens Schlegelmilch and Didier Plantin of Dargal S.A., who received about $1.969 million for supplying 5,900 Ursus tractors.[23]

France
Potentially the most lucrative deal alleged in the documents involved the effort by Dassault Aviation, a French military contractor. French authorities indicated in 1998 that Bhutto's husband, Zardari, offered exclusive rights to Dassault to replace the air force's fighter jets in exchange for a five percent commission to be paid to a corporation in Switzerland controlled by Zardari.[24]

At the time, French corruption laws forbade bribery of French officials but permitted payoffs to foreign officials, and even made the payoffs tax-deductible in France. However, France changed this law in 2000.[25]

Helicopter scandal
In 1998-1999, an enquiry was conducted by the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of the Parliament to investigate the matter regarding the purchase of the helicopter. The case involves defrauding substantive sum of $2.168 million and $1.1 million public money. The record shows that the case was not pursued properly nor diligently. FIR No 1 of 1998 was registered with Federal Investigation Agency State Bank Circle Rawalpindi on the complaint of Cabinet Division. Thorough investigation was conducted by the committee headed by Chaudhry Muhammad Barjees Tahir and two other members, namely Faridullah Jamali and Jamshaid Ali Shah. During this investigation the committee Chairman Barjees Tahir summoned both the former President Farooq Leghari and former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto along with others, and they were investigated. The case received extensive media coverage both inside and outside Pakistan. The recommendations of the committee, obtained from the file, are as under:

6.1: FIR may be lodged against (1) Malik Allah Yar Khan of Kalabagh (2) Zia Pervez Hussain (3) Dr M.A. Khan and criminal proceedings be instituted against them defrauding the government.

6.2: The amount of $2.168 million be recovered from Malik Allah Yar Khan, Zia Pervez Hussain and Dr M.A. Khan by attaching their properties etc in Pakistan or abroad for this purpose. FIA may be directed to take steps to recover this money through Interpol, if necessary. Any banker or foreign national involved in this fraud may also be taken to task by the Federal Investigation Agency.

6.3: As Benazir Bhutto, she is clearly responsible for this loss to exchequer as major decisions in respect of this contract were taken with her approval or direction and passed on to Cabinet Division through former PS PM (Ahmad Sadiq). FIR may be registered against her for causing loss to state by misuse of her authority as PM, and criminal proceedings be initiated.

6.4: Farooq Leghari knows that his name has visibly come up in this case. He has tried to plead innocent. It is unimaginable that those operating in this scandal could have easy access to the top bureaucrats like Cabinet Secretary, Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister and even to the Prime Minister herself without the backing and active support of the President. FIR against him must also be registered and criminal proceedings initiated.

6.5: As for the senior civil servants involved in the case, Ahmad Sadiq former PS PM, Humayun Faiz Rasul and Sahibzada Imtiaz former Cabinet Secretary, no action can be taken against them at this stage as they already stand retired/superannuated.

The case was further referred to the National Accountability Bureau in 2000-02 but no action was taken.

Western Asia
In the largest single payment investigators have uncovered, a gold bullion dealer in Western Asia was alleged to have deposited at least $10 million into one of Zardari's accounts after the Bhutto government gave him a monopoly on gold imports that sustained Pakistan's jewellery industry. The money was allegedly deposited into Zardari's Citibank account in Dubai. Pakistan's Arabian Sea coast, stretching from Karachi to the border with Iran, has long been a gold smugglers' haven. Until the beginning of Bhutto's second term, the trade, running into hundreds of millions of dollars a year, was unregulated, with slivers of gold called biscuits, and larger weights in bullion, carried on planes and boats that travel between the Persian Gulf and the largely unguarded Pakistani coast.

Shortly after Bhutto returned as Prime Minister in 1993, a Pakistani bullion trader in Dubai, Abdul Razzak Yaqub, proposed a deal: in return for the exclusive right to import gold, Razzak would help the government regularize the trade. In November 1994, Pakistan's Commerce Ministry wrote to Razzak informing him that he had been granted a license that made him, for at least the next two years, Pakistan's sole authorized gold importer. In an interview in his office in Dubai, Razzak acknowledged that he had used the license to import more than $500 million in gold into Pakistan, and that he had travelled to Islamabad several times to meet with Bhutto and Zardari. But he denied that there had been any corruption or secret deals. "I have not paid a single cent to Zardari," he said. Razzak claims that someone in Pakistan who wished to destroy his reputation had contrived to have his company wrongly identified as the depositor. "Somebody in the bank has cooperated with my enemies to make false documents," he said.[26][27][28][29]

Bhutto's niece and others have publicly accused Bhutto of complicity in the killing of her brother Murtaza Bhutto in 1996 by uniformed police officers while she was Prime Minister.[30]

Mental Illness
The British newspaper Daily Telegraph has revealed on August 26, 2008 issue that Asif Ali Zardari is suffering from mental illnesses [31].

Mr Zardari, co-chair of the Pakistan People's Party, was diagnosed with a range of psychiatric illnesses, including dementia, major depressive disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder.
The illnesses were said to be linked to the fact that he has spent 11 of the past 20 years in Pakistani prisons fighting charges of corruption. He claims to have been tortured during his incarceration.
In March 2007 New York psychiatrist Philip Saltiel found that Mr Zardari's time in detention left him with severe "emotional instability", memory loss and concentration problems, according to court documents seen by the Financial Times. [32]

Pakistan can never be a democratic country the politicans have just proved this by voting gardari has preident.If you think the chacha mamah politics can bring justice for the poor people of the great nation of pakistan then think again all you shoe polishers Exclamation

pakistan zindabad

We r standin at the sane position from where v hav started.Allah safe Pakistan from these EVILS

Getting into office was the easy step. Political maneuvering and broken promises could get you there.
Tackling the problems facing the country is the real test.

You cannot fool all the people all the time.

evrybody doing corruption... wat's the problem with zardari.. if u guys get power u'll do the same thing.. so wat's the point to put finger some one.. just look around u..

Asif Zardri became 12th president of Pakistan, its look better right now cuz of situation of the pakistan, but he cant impliment of the promices and menifesto he given to people of pakistan and soon he will be called with bad names and people will ask his resignation.

Dears, if we can do nothing, even then at least we must not our faith on Almighty Allah and keep seeking his blessings / protection for our people. Let´s pray that God protect our country and its people. More than internal the most important is International political situation of Pakistan. Plans are coming in front by intentions of so called super powers about Pakistan. Please pray for our country.

Yes only Allah can save us if we realised our mistakes as a nation.If we are correct ourselves can hold the culprits of the nation from the neck when they do not fullfill their promisses.We should also not be that naives to rely on those not even ready to start from theirselves atleast to transfer their properties to the Pakistan which they are claiming to be the leaders of.