A new year is a time to begin with a blank slate, forget past deeds and start afresh. President Zardari has taken that concept to heart. Forget blank slate, he seems to be suffering from amnesia.

This is from today’s Dawn:

In an interview with a TV channel, the president said some forces wanted the ISI to be under civilian control but the government put a stop to the move.

Zardari is half-right. The government did indeed prevent the ISI from coming under civilian control. What he’s forgotten is that the “force” which was trying to bring the ISI under civilian control was the government. The prevention Zardari speaks of came when the government reversed its decision a couple of days later.

And could Zardari please explain why bringing the ISI under civilian control would be such a horrible thing that he needs to fight it?