An Intresting Article.

Mr. Ardeshir Cowasjee's advice to Mr. Zardari: Appoint a good Education Minister ASAP. At least we can ensure that our future leaders know how to spell correctly. So it turns out President Asif Ali Zardari did make the spelling mistake in the sentence 'May Goad [God] give us the strut [strength] to save Pakistan', which he wrote on Aug. 14 in Karachi at Quaid-e-Azam's Mausoleum.It turns out President Zardari's men were ordered to remove the page from the Visitors' Book after the scandal broke out in the media when someone circulated the page copy online.The President's media managers sprung into action and denied Mr. Zardari ever made those spelling errors. FIA's National Response Center for Cyber Crimes (NR3C), which is otherwise a very professional unit, was given the sloppy assignment of hunting down the person who distributed the email with presidential spelling errors. But, seizing the opportunity, the government decided to also hunt down those distributing harmless jokes on President Zardari through SMS text messages and personal emails.The revelation that Mr. Zardari's spelling mistake is true and not a hoax comes in the latest column by Ardeshir Cowasjee, the granddaddy of Pakistani column-writing community. It turns out Mr. Cowasjee was one of the last people to actually visit the Mausoleum and take photocopies of the pages in the visitors' book on the day President Zardari and his entourage came down and jotted their impressions. Later, according to the veteran columnist, men apparently sent by the President came and tore away two pages from the book and made a new entry in Mr. Zardari's name where the spelling was correct.Here's how Mr. Cowasjee describes it:"Now, back to this September 12 when I went to the Mazar and asked the keepers to let me have photocopies of what had been written by the September 11 visiting 'dignitaries' in the visitors' book. I was given copies of remarks recorded by the president, the Sindh governor and the Sindh chief minister. Subsequently, on September 14, I wrote in my column: "Recorded by Asif, in illegible handwriting resembling that of a stressed physician, were the words "May Gaad [sic] give us the street [sic] to save Pakistan."The internet then took over, and messages attaching a photocopy of what had been written were flashed around the world. The spooks sprang into action. They removed from the 100-page book the double-page on which Zardari's message and that of the Karachi station commander were recorded, leaving 98 pages in the book in which visitors will now record their views, and on a fresh page rewrote Zardari's message correcting the two misspelled words.On September 26, on the back page of, a news item under the heading 'Zardari's misspelled remarks proved fabricated' reproduced images of the original page and the rewritten new page, informing readers that "Some hidden hands have sent an email … claiming that the President had misspelled the words God and strength. However a verification of this matter revealed that the campaign was a venomous propaganda against President Zardari … It was distressing to note that a senior English-language columnist did not bother to verify the facts and added fuel to fire in his column while referring to this fabricated story."This was picked up and their report on the 'outrage' was printed on September 27 under the heading 'Spokesman slams malicious campaign against Zardari' and in The Nation under the heading 'Propaganda against Zardari 'malicious'', both telling us that "The presidential spokesman has taken strong exception to a malicious campaign initiated by some anti-democratic elements to tarnish the image of President Asif Ali Zardari."Not to be outdone, that same day an editorial in The under the heading 'A shameful forgery' commented on the original Nation report of the 26th. It opened up: "The past week has seen a vicious electronic and press campaign maligning President Asif Ali Zardari through a forgery", and reproduced the comments about hidden hands and the columnist.This was all very unnecessary and somewhat foolish to draw even more attention to the matter. The initial news report did no favour to the president, and neither did the amateur 'presidential spokesman' who would have done better to remain silent. Admitting that fuel had been added to fire indicates that indeed a fire burns (or even rages) when it comes to the matter of Zardari's image.Unfortunately, for him and for us as a nation, his image has not been exactly shining since the early 1990s. Botheration and concern about his image is nothing new, but it has all been enhanced since the tragic assassination of his wife, his usurpation in her name of the largest (apart from the army) political party of this country, and his subsequent indirect election through the various assemblies and senate to the post of head of state.The image took further hefty knocks when he decided to do his bit for his relationship with the US and attend the UNGA meeting and address it (Benazir's photo carried in and placed by him on the rostrum). His behaviour, as reported in our press and in the international press and as commented upon in detail by the American media, did little to enhance the image. So be it.Now, what he should do is appoint a federal education minister in double-quick time so that the upcoming citizens and leaders of this country at least learn how to spell correctly."Now that Mr. Cowasjee has settled the matter, it is important to mention why we are posting this report. Besides the very important issue of the quality of our 'leaders' and their spelling errors [Honestly, with far more serious flaws like corruption and ineptitude, we feel good spelling skills is the least of our politicians' troubles.] there is another more important issue regarding what President Zardari wrote in the book on that day.A more urgent question is this: Why did the President, on Aug. 14 of all days, when someone like him is supposed to revive people's patriotism, chose the following nine words 'May God give us the strength to save Pakistan'?Why was the president making such a dire indirect assessment on Pakistan's future on the day Pakistan gained Independence?Yes we have problems, serious problems. But who said Pakistan is such a hopeless case that it needs someone like Mr. Zardari to 'save' it?Frankly, if you Google this out, you will discover that the only other person who keeps warning us that Pakistan is 'threatened' in its 'existence' is Gen. David Petraeus, the commander of the U.S. occupation army on our western border. His argument is that Pakistan will end if it does not allow U.S. military to enter Pakistan. Why would a President say 'God help us save Pakistan' on our Independence Day?