EXCERPT: "For the first time in months, President Asif Ali Zardari is doing what presidents normally do — giving rousing speeches, traveling around the country and asserting himself publicly as the country’s chief official. This is unusual behavior for a leader who rarely left the presidential palace, except to travel abroad, and hunkered down in silence under a barrage of media criticism for months last year, leading many to conclude that he was losing his grip on power. 'The doomsday scenario has not come to pass,' said Cyril Almeida, a columnist for Dawn, an English-language daily newspaper. It now seems more likely that Mr. Zardari will survive in power. But he remains a weak, unpopular leader, leaving the larger question for Pakistan unchanged: When will its elected leaders be capable of solving the vast assortment of crushing economic, security and social problems facing the country?"
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Related articles:
In disrepute: The countdown to the post-Zardari era begins, The Economist, 21 January 2010
Presidency braces itself for legal battle, DAWN, 21 January 2010
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At the precipice: Is Pakistan about to fail?, 10 December 2009
Pakistan leader faces court test, militant attacks, 9 December 2009
