Zardari govt now weakened: Ex US diplomat

President Asif Ali Zardari's government in Pakistan has become weaker in the aftermath of the political turmoil in the country over the past weekend, a former US diplomat said on Wednesday.

President Asif Ali Zardari's government in Pakistan has become weaker in the aftermath of the political turmoil in the country over the past weekend, a former US diplomat said on Wednesday.

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The lawyers’ movement which had resulted in Musharraf’s fall from power, in its latest round of agitation has considerably weakened Zardari government, said William Milam, former US Ambassador to Pakistan.

“This lawyers’ movement basically did in President Musharraf. He caused it and it caused his fall from power, ultimately. And it has -- the outcome (of the recent agitation), weakened the present government, Zardari’s government, without necessarily strengthening the overall governing process,” he said in his testimony before the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom.

Milam, who was in Pakistan from 1998 to 2001, said: “We will have to see how things work out between the Pakistan People’s Party, Zardari and Nawaz Sharif and his PML-N.” Milam said there are a few things that came out of this recent resolution of confrontation in Pakistan.

“One is that these movements like the lawyers’ movement that was the sort of impetus picked up a lot of baggage that it didn’t start with, which is mostly good,” he said adding, it became a whole symbol of desire for judicial independence.