When Pakistan’s President Asif Ali Zardari ventured out in the past week to personally visit two localities across the populous Punjab province, his journey was immediately surrounded by unanswered questions. Since his unexpected political rise to becoming Pakistan’s head of state in 2008, following the assassination of his wife, Benazir Bhutto, Zardari has adopted an unusual bunkered mentality.
While Pakistan remains surrounded by an acute security crisis, Zardari has remained practically confined to his well-fortified presidential residence — effectively a bunker.
Rather than reach out to the front lines, even symbolically, the Pakistani president has preferred to remain an observer from the rear.
looking beyond borders 