Pakistan’s new government will have to make “some hard decisions” as it grapples with challenges ranging from militancy to an energy crisis in order to strengthen democracy after the country’s first peaceful transition of power, President Asif Ali Zardari said on Monday. “We need to take some hard
decisions and without delay. Delaying decisions do not avoid problems. They only invite crises,” Zardari said in his address to the first joint session of both houses of Parliament after the May 11 general election.
Meanwhile, the woes of Pakistan’s former military dictator Pervez Musharraf continued today when an anti-terrorism court issued non-bailable arrest warrants against him and former prime minister Shaukat Aziz in the high-profile 2006 murder case of Baloch leader Akbar Bugti.
While wishing Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif luck, Zardari listed the problems confronting the new PMl-N government. “We are confronted with serious challenges. Economic hardships have caused pain. Power shortages, rising militancy and extremism have compounded economic woes. We have to find solutions to our problems,” he said. Describing militancy and terrorism as the “greatest threat” to Pakistan’s national security, Zardari said “strong leadership” is needed, and asserted that Pakistan will not allow its soil to be used for terrorism directed against any other country.