Pakistan press hails Zardari release

Jail has boosted Mr Zardari's stature, many analysts say

Newspapers in Pakistan welcome the release from prison on Monday of the husband of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto after eight years in prison.

Commentators believe the freeing of Asif Zardari on bail after his imprisonment on corruption and conspiracy to murder charges could prove a milestone in the return to democracy.

Mr Zardari's incarceration is seen as having raised his public profile to the point where he is considered a hero by many.

"After spending eight long years behind bars, Asif Zardari today enjoys the stature of a politician he never had before he was sent to prison," argues Peshawar's Urdu-language Mashriq.

It would not be wrong to call Asif Zardari Pakistan's Nelson Mandela Ausaf

Prison, it says, revealed him to be an "uncompromising politician. The perseverance and patience with which he spent these years in jail have indeed boosted his political stature".

"One hopes that the release of Asif Zardari will prove a turning point in Pakistan's politics, leading to a new political reconciliation," Mashriq concludes.

'Pride of the nation'

The Islamabad Urdu daily Ausaf says his years behind bars have made him "a real hero who lives in the hearts of the people".

"It would not be wrong to call Asif Ali Zardari Pakistan's Nelson Mandela.

"The truth is that he has shaped a new political history by spending long eight long years of his youth in prison with a firm resolve."

Ausaf describes him as "not only the pride of the Bhutto family but of the whole Pakistani nation".

"During his imprisonment, he rejected all underhand deals proposed by various government officials and faced the challenges like an iron man."

An editorial in Karachi's Dawn places his release within the context of a rapprochement between the government and opposition, noting that it "could turn out to be seminal if the two sides decide to continue talking".

General Musharraf should heed the logic of his own vision - a liberal, modern and progressive Pakistan Daily Times

"The long confinement of Mr Asif Zardari served to alienate the opposition... The government should realise that it needs the opposition's cooperation and understanding if it is to move forward on the detente with India and seek a national consensus on a possible Kashmir solution.

"For this it must show a spirit of accommodation and set healthy precedents. While we would give the same advice to the opposition, we would expect the government to review the series of undemocratic and unconstitutional steps it has taken since the military takeover of October 1999."

No deal

"Zardari's release is a welcome development," says an editorial in Lahore's English-language Daily Times.

It quotes Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed as saying the decision to free him "is a positive development and could go a long way in strengthening democracy in the country".

The daily doubts that former premier Benazir Bhutto had made any deal for her husband's release, but argues his release would allow the government and her Pakistan People's Party (PPP) to "actually sit down and work something out".

"From General Musharraf's viewpoint, an understanding with the PPP makes sense... We have repeatedly been saying that General Musharraf should heed the logic of his own vision - a liberal, modern and progressive Pakistan.

"This agenda dovetails only with the PPP's outlook. So far, the PPP has not responded to any of his political moves because it has been in the political wilderness.

Zardari did not bow before the rulers The News

"If Mr Zardari's release is pegged to a strategic shift on the government side, then we should expect some more developments, including the possible return to the country of Ms Bhutto," Daily Times concludes.

The News carries a headline: "Jubilation in Nawabshah over Zardari's bail."

"As the news of Zardari's bail broke in Nawabshah, the ancestral city of Zardari, a large number of party workers gathered at the party's district office, chanting and dancing in jubilation."

The News quoted speakers at a celebration rally as saying that Mr Zardari "spent several years in the jail but did not bow before the rulers".

BBC Monitoring, based in Caversham in southern England, selects and translates information from radio, television, press, news agencies and the Internet from 150 countries in more than 70 languages.