The Zardari dilemma (2)

Nuclear power to the rescue

This is an archived blog post from The Acorn.

For some good writing turn to Mohammed Hanif in The National (linkthanks Samanth Subramanian):

Every pundit in Pakistan has made a long to-do list for President Zardari: security, economy, electricity, flour prices, fuel prices and more security. No doubt the Americans — who made his presidency possible, and who, despite his democratic credentials, will be the final arbiters of his intelligence — have prepared their own list as well. He must fight their war on terror while convincing the people of Pakistan that American drones are randomly bombing the people of northern Pakistan for their own good. At the same time, Zardari must convey to the Americans that their Nintendo Wii-war, operated by remote control, does their own image no favours.

Perhaps with the Americans Zardari can try the argument presented to me by one man who wanted to sell me a three-bedroom house in Defence. In the middle of the usual haggling over the price, our discussion suddenly degenerated into a state-of-the-nation talk. “These are the worst times,” he admitted, “but give it another six months, and it will improve.

“The army will come in and clean up this mess. And the Americans can’t go on pushing us into a corner. We are a nuclear power, yaar,” he concluded triumphantly, “you are getting a cheap deal.”

I have not read much real estate literature, but surely this was the first time a nuclear device was mentioned to close a property sale. [The National]

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