ID :
17691
Mon, 09/01/2008 - 17:26
Auther :
Shortlink :
http://m.oananews.org//node/17691
The shortlink copeid
US officials concerned over reports on Zardari`s mental health
New York, Sept 1 (PTI) Several U.S. officials including a senior Republican senator have expressed concern over reports that Pakistan People's Party (P.P.P.) chief Asif Ali Zardari, a strong contender for presidency, was diagnosed with mental problems as late as last year, a media report said Monday.
Though Zardari's spokespersons contend that he had been cured, the American officials were wary of Zardari having a partial control over Pakistan's nuclear arsenal if elected to the post during the September six presidential poll, Newsweek reported.
"Typically (the U.S.) would not want that kind of person involved in a nuclear chain of command," said Pete Hoekstra, ranking Republican on the U.S. House Intelligence Committee.
Doctors hired by Zardari had reportedly diagnosed him with mental problems including dementia, depression and post traumatic stress disorder.
Lawyers for Zardari, the report noted, argued in London's high court he was too ill to testify in corruption-related cases, and they submitted recent mental-health evaluations as evidence.
In March 2007, the Financial Times reported, New York psychologist Stephen Reich concluded Zardari was "chronically anxious and apprehensive" and had thoughts of suicide, though he had not acted on them.
The newspaper wrote that a New York psychiatrist, Philip Saltiel, found that Zardari's long imprisonment in Pakistan while facing corruption probes had left him with "emotional instability" as well as memory and concentration problems.
Reich, said Newsweek, declined to comment.
Two unidentified American officials were quoted by Newsweek as saying Washington regarded Zardari's medical diagnoses as a legal ploy designed to stall corruption cases against him.
Pakistani officials and Zardari supporters said all the
allegations against him were trumped up by his enemies, but added, that the prison stresses were real.
In an e-mail to Newsweek, Husain Haqqani, Pakistan's U.S.
ambassador, wrote that Zardari "obviously was affected by the torture of imprisonment without conviction. A similar diagnosis is usually made for former P.O.W.s immediately after their release but that does not preclude their full recovery and subsequent running for high political office. Zardari has no current condition requiring psychiatric help or medication."
While Hoekstra told Newsweek that he did not recall being
briefed about Zardari's claims of mental incapacity, two other U.S. foreign-policy officials were quoted as saying they found the revelations surprising and disquieting.
But a U.S. official familiar with intelligence, told the
Newsweek that any elision was unintentional. "No one here
should think information was deliberately withheld or
suppressed," the official said. "Nor should they simply accept
at face value assertions made with the apparent goal of
warding off legal proceedings."
According to one of the officials, the U.S. government
believes Pakistan's nukes are tightly controlled by elite
elements of its military and that the nuclear authority of
elected officials, including the president, would be
"extremely limited."
Though Zardari's spokespersons contend that he had been cured, the American officials were wary of Zardari having a partial control over Pakistan's nuclear arsenal if elected to the post during the September six presidential poll, Newsweek reported.
"Typically (the U.S.) would not want that kind of person involved in a nuclear chain of command," said Pete Hoekstra, ranking Republican on the U.S. House Intelligence Committee.
Doctors hired by Zardari had reportedly diagnosed him with mental problems including dementia, depression and post traumatic stress disorder.
Lawyers for Zardari, the report noted, argued in London's high court he was too ill to testify in corruption-related cases, and they submitted recent mental-health evaluations as evidence.
In March 2007, the Financial Times reported, New York psychologist Stephen Reich concluded Zardari was "chronically anxious and apprehensive" and had thoughts of suicide, though he had not acted on them.
The newspaper wrote that a New York psychiatrist, Philip Saltiel, found that Zardari's long imprisonment in Pakistan while facing corruption probes had left him with "emotional instability" as well as memory and concentration problems.
Reich, said Newsweek, declined to comment.
Two unidentified American officials were quoted by Newsweek as saying Washington regarded Zardari's medical diagnoses as a legal ploy designed to stall corruption cases against him.
Pakistani officials and Zardari supporters said all the
allegations against him were trumped up by his enemies, but added, that the prison stresses were real.
In an e-mail to Newsweek, Husain Haqqani, Pakistan's U.S.
ambassador, wrote that Zardari "obviously was affected by the torture of imprisonment without conviction. A similar diagnosis is usually made for former P.O.W.s immediately after their release but that does not preclude their full recovery and subsequent running for high political office. Zardari has no current condition requiring psychiatric help or medication."
While Hoekstra told Newsweek that he did not recall being
briefed about Zardari's claims of mental incapacity, two other U.S. foreign-policy officials were quoted as saying they found the revelations surprising and disquieting.
But a U.S. official familiar with intelligence, told the
Newsweek that any elision was unintentional. "No one here
should think information was deliberately withheld or
suppressed," the official said. "Nor should they simply accept
at face value assertions made with the apparent goal of
warding off legal proceedings."
According to one of the officials, the U.S. government
believes Pakistan's nukes are tightly controlled by elite
elements of its military and that the nuclear authority of
elected officials, including the president, would be
"extremely limited."
