Asif Ali Zardari who will be sworn in as President of Pakistan on Tuesday showed he means business Sunday when he stopped millions of Pakistanis from having a day off in his honor. “The government withdrew the notification about declaring Monday as a holiday after Asif Ali Zardari said it was not the time to go on holiday but to work hard and solve the people's problems,” provincial minister Waqar Mehdi said. The holiday was for millions of state employees and schools and colleges, a provincial government statement said earlier. Zardari, who won 481 of 702 electoral college votes to cement his hold on power in nuclear-armed Pakistan, faces manifold challenges, ranging from addressing a deteriorating economy and worsening militant violence to countering widespread doubts about his suitability to be president. An immediate test for Zardari will be whether he keeps a promise, that he reiterated after his victory on Saturday, to strip the presidency of the power to dismiss parliament. Former president Pervez Musharraf, who resigned last month, had vested vast political powers in the presidency, including the right to dismiss parliament, appoint leaders of the military and make key judicial appointments. “Zardari's first test is that as president he facilitates the transfer of Musharraf's powers to parliament,” said Ahsan Iqbal, a former government minister and a senior figure in the country's main opposition party of two-time former premier Nawaz Sharif, who was ousted from power by Musharraf in 1999. Sharif's allies have already demanded that Zardari resign as co-chairman of the Pakistan People's Party (PPP), the country's largest, in the wake of his victory. “We want the president to be apolitical -- that has been the tradition and we hope this tradition is kept,” Iqbal said. The country's second largest opposition party, the PML-Q, also said power should be centered on parliament. “The government should take all decisions through parliament,” said Mushahid Hussain, who was defeated by Zardari in the vote. The Dawn newspaper said in an editorial that Zardari, must dispel the perception he is an artful politician. “What Mr Zardari needs to do is dispel the impression that he is a political wheeler-dealer who is adept at making backroom deals but unable to rise to the requirements of statesmanship,” it said. Zardari, once dubbed “Mr Ten Percent,” spent a total of 11 years in jail on charges ranging from corruption to murder. An amnesty signed by Musharraf cleared him of all corruption charges last year and allowed him and Bhutto to return to Pakistan and end years in exile. Zardari, the widower of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, is taking office at a time when many Pakistanis see the United States as a threat, especially after a bloody incursion by US ground troops hunting suspected militants in a village on the Afghan border on Wednesday. “The sovereignty of the country is at risk,” the News said. “Mr Zardari must use his new office to defuse the crisis .... it is simply too dangerous to have the Americans breaking down the door to Pakistan,” it said. Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Sunday congratulated Zardari and said his election a chance to transform relations between the rival nations. “The ushering in of democracy in Pakistan opens new opportunities for us to work together to bring the fruits of peace, prosperity and development to our region,” said Singh in a letter released by the prime minister's office. “We have the political will to work with you to seize these opportunities and transform our relations. In your new office, you will find a friend in India.”
