Zardari will bring stability to Pakistan: US think tank

WASHINGTON: “Washington hopes that Asif Ali Zardari’s election to the Pakistani Presidency will help provide some stability within the government so that it can get down to the task of countering the terrorism and extremism that currently threatens the Pakistani state,” according to Lisa Curtis of the Heritage Foundation, America’s leading conservative think tank.Curtis believes that if the opposition continues to call for some powers of the Presidency – such as the power to dismiss parliament - to be rolled back, Zardari will find himself quickly distracted from addressing serious challenges. It would be better for the political parties to develop a level of reconciliation that would see the country through this delicate stage, rather than allow continued political infighting to slowly tear the system apart and lead to the strengthening of radical elements or the return to military rule, she concludes.