Source: Telegraph
Asif Ali Zardari, the widower of former Pakistan prime minister Benazir Bhutto and himself a leading contender for the country’s presidency, was suffering from severe mental illness as recently as last year, it has been reported.
Mr Zardari, co-chair of the Pakistan People’s Party, was diagnosed with a range of psychiatric illnesses, including dementia, major depressive disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder.
The illnesses were said to be linked to the fact that he has spent 11 of the past 20 years in Pakistani prisons fighting charges of corruption. He claims to have been tortured during his incarceration.
In March 2007 New York psychiatrist Philip Saltiel found that Mr Zardari’s time in detention left him with severe “emotional instability”, memory loss and concentration problems, according to court documents seen by the Financial Times.
“I do not see any improvement in these issues for at least a year,” he wrote.
Stephen Reich, a psychiatrist from New York State, said Mr Zardari was unable to recall the birthdays of his wife and children and had thought about suicide.
Mr Zardari used the medical reports to successfully fight a now defunct English High Court case in which the Pakistan government sought to sue him over alleged corruption. The case was dropped in March.
Mr Zardari was not available to comment on the documents, but Wajid Shamsul Hasan, the Pakistan high commissioner to London said he was now fit and well.
Mr Zardari is his party’s candidate to succeed Pervez Musharraf as president of the nuclear-armed country.
However, his coalition government with former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, fell apart yesterday after Mr Sharif withdrew his party, the The Pakistan Muslim League-N.
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Tags: Asif Ali Zardari, Benazir Bhutto, former Pakistan prime minister, widower
7 responses so far ↓
1 hira // Aug 27, 2008 at 10:32 pm
r u sure about dis report bcoz dis nt believable but ny how den why nt media report on dis
2 Mahmood Barlas // Aug 28, 2008 at 10:24 am
if the new is true then its gone be disastor for my beloved country,I still have doubts about the credibilty of the report,I know these multy billionoirs do play things like these when they wanted to avoid any court proceedings or seek undue advantage of the flaws of LAW . I want to qoute one judgement very famous one, The man was ordered by the court TO HANG THE MAN.as sson as the man was hunged the defence attorney has made arrangements to cut the rope immediately.and said court order was delivered and the man was hunged.one can understand what I mean.any waywish for the best of luck to my country
3 shirullzaman khan // Aug 28, 2008 at 10:32 am
THESE REPORTS ARE TRUE REPORTS AND WERE NOT BROUGHT TO THE NOTICE OF THE COMMON PULIC BEFORE IS BECAUSE IT WAS NOT THE ISSUE AT THAT TIME BUT NOW THAT ZARDARI WANTS TOO BECOME THE PRESIDENT OF A NUCLEAR STAE HE MUST BE MENTALLY FIT TO DECIDE WHEN TO PRESS THE BUTTON ,,IF IT EVER COMES TO THAT FAR ,,THESE ARE VERY SEROUS CHARGES ON A PERSON HOPEING TO BE PRESIDENT SOON,,,HE MUST BE MENTALLY HEALTHY TO MAKE DECISIONS WISELY ,,,BUT IF THE PEPLE HAVE ANY DOUGHTS ABOUT HTE REPORTS …THEY CAN ALWAYS HAVE MR:ZARDARI SEE A BOARD OF PAKISTANI psychiatrist EXAMINE HIM AND COME UP WITH ACTUAL RESULTS OF HIS CONDITION.
4 hira // Aug 29, 2008 at 7:21 pm
n wat is dat result according to pakistani doctors
5 syed ejaz ahmed // Sep 8, 2008 at 10:40 pm
panu aqil cycling association k general secretary syed ejaz ahmed shah ki tarf say apko sadder baney ki khushi main mobark bad pesh karty hain.or ham umid karty hain k ap sprots ko uper ki tarf leyjaen gain.mera concat number ye hai 0300-2501824 or mai umid karta houn k sadder pakistan mujhe apny pass zaroor bulain gain.main indoran sindh main har kisam k sports karwata houn. fakth apka fain ejaz shah
6 hira // Sep 10, 2008 at 1:14 am
wat is dis ejaz? is dis a advertising or wat v r here to discuss da topic not 4r da sifarish
7 maddy // Sep 12, 2008 at 1:56 am
well i belive this coz he looks like that… he is a gud person to sit on the chair…it is the biggest mistake ever made by the ppl of paksitan…
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