The general perception and expectation is that a democratically-elected President, being figurehead of a state, is under obligation not to insult his office or humiliate his people. That is what President Zardari has done by undertaking a foreign visit while his country was sunk in the worst floods of its history, millions of his compatriots lying under open sky having lost their homesteads, livestock and loved ones in the calamity. And that is only one half of the story. Karachi, the hub of countrys finance and business, was meanwhile losing Rs. 10 billion every day while large-scale targeted murder and arson went on for days and is still continued, making the city paralyzed and the economy of country with it. This was the state of affairs back home when our head of state shook hands with British Prime Minister David Cameron. Mr Cameron, if you need further irony, is the man who had recently insulted Pakistan during a visit to arch enemy India saying Britain cannot tolerate in any sense the idea that Pakistan is allowed to look both ways and is able, in any way, to promote the export of terror. There are questions at home regarding who is incharge but one wonders if Mr Zardari, being the President of Pakistan, not a symbol of federation? Somebody has to present how he perceives things so here is what I imagine he must be thinking. Mr Zardari has a mortal fear of being killed the way his wife Benazir Bhutto was killed in Pakistan and he is justified in fearing those who killed Benazir Bhutto. That means the only chance he has to relax with his children is in places abroad, in foreign countries. He naturally wants to be still around by the time his son is able to take over his party, the PPP, fulltime as chairman to inherit the mantle of leadership in politics. Asif Zardari thinks pow-wow with western leaders is good, no matter what the public thinks and he might have imagined he would be able to teach Mr Cameron a thing or two about the India-Pakistan relations and the feelings of Pakistani public against his anti-Pakistan statement. He met him probably to ensure the British Prime Minister would be careful in making such a statement in future. As for floods disaster, terrorism, target killing in Karachi and all that, it is the duty of institutions like the Army to tackle. President doesnt have any control on political parties like ANP and MQM either and they are the ones involved in Karachi target killings and blaming each other. His own party PPP is not involved in the row so why should he bother? President Zardari knows his reputation as Mr Ten Percent is not going to be erased by his respecting the public opinion. And he knows that his opponent in politics are not any better than him when it comes to forwarding their personal interests. He also knows that the memory of people is very short. By next election, people would have forgotten completely this little misjudgement in politics. Besides, he is actually a businessman by profession and a full-time politician only by accident. -ENGR. S.T. HUSSAIN, August 6.