Need to walk the talk

IT was good to hear Mr Asif Ali Zardari reiterate on Saturday, while addressing partymen and wellwishers on having been elected President of the country, that Parliament was sovereign and the President subservient to it. That should put to rest any doubt about the possibility of his retaining the notorious Article 58(2b) and any other amendments in the basic document that have lent it an undemocratic colour. One expects that the President-elect's first priority would be to have such provisions removed.
Deleting the draconian accretions to the Constitution apart, President Zardari would have to ensure that all those who represent his party, including the Punjab Governor, do not indulge in uncouth and provocative language and pick a row with the PML(N), which apparently has become the target of some of them. Mian Nawaz Sharif's party has unequivocally demonstrated its majority in the Punjab Assembly during the presidential poll, and to talk of bringing it down and berating Chief Minister Mian Shahbaz Sharif are highly unbecoming. The PPP, led by President Zardari, has been proclaiming the defence of democracy and preservation of the federation as its mission. One should expect him to walk the talk and rein in those elements in the PPP's midst, who are itching to disrupt the process of democracy taking root. At the same time, PML(N) leaders must not respond to such provocative remarks; for that would once again open an ugly chapter in the two parties' relations.