Several US officials including a senior Republican senator have expressed concern over reports that Pakistan People’s Party chief Asif Ali Zardari, a strong contender for presidency, was diagnosed with mental problems as late as last year, a media report said on Monday.

Though Zardari’s spokespersons contend that he had been cured, the American officials were wary of Zardari having a partial control over Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal if elected to the post during the September six presidential poll, Newsweek reported.

“Typically (the US) would not want that kind of person involved in a nuclear chain of command,” said Pete Hoekstra, ranking Republican on the US House Intelligence Committee.

Doctors hired by Zardari had reportedly diagnosed him with mental problems including dementia, depression and post traumatic stress disorder.

Lawyers for Zardari, the report noted, argued in London’s High Court he was too ill to testify in corruption-related cases, and they submitted recent mental-health evaluations as evidence.

In March 2007, the Financial Times reported, New York psychologist Stephen Reich concluded Zardari was “chronically anxious and apprehensive” and had thoughts of suicide, though he had not acted on them.
The paper wrote that a New York psychiatrist, Philip Saltiel, found Zardari’s long imprisonment in Pakistan while facing corruption probes had left him with “emotional instability” as well as memory and concentration problems. But,  Reich has declined to comment.

Two unidentified US officials were quoted as saying that  Washington regarded Zardari’s medical diagnoses as a legal ploy designed to stall corruption cases against him.

Pakistani officials and Zardari supporters said the allegations against him were trumped up by his enemies, but added, that the prison stresses were real.



PPP chief for consensus govt

Islamabad, pti: In a bid to woo estranged ally Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, Pakistan People’s Party chief Asif Ali Zardari favoured a “national consensus” government to solve the problems of the country even as he strengthened his chances for the presidency by winning the backing of Baloch lawmakers.

PML-N chief and former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, meanwhile, said “confrontation” among political forces was not good for Pakistan. Political powers of the country should extend support to each other and avoid confrontation, he said on Monday.