President Zardari, who are you fighting?

President Zardari, who are you fighting?

It was an extraordinary speech. After months of silence, Asif Ali Zardari, the Pakistani president, finally spoke out.

It was the anniversary of the death of his wife, Benazir Bhutto, who died on December 27, 2007 on the campaign trail.

The speech was at Naudero, the spiritual home of Bhutto's Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) in Sindh Province, southwest Pakistan.
 
The president was blunt. He spoke of "non-state actors" trying to break up Pakistan. He spoke of sacrifice.

"We have shed our blood for building institutions, know how they have been built. We know what will happen when such institutions clash and we don't want to see such a day," he said.

It was fighting talk. The problem is many in Pakistan simply don't know what, or who, he was talking about, much less fighting.
 
"I don't know what he means. Who are these people trying to destabilise Pakistan?" said one friend of mine, Faysal who watched the speech.

"Is he talking about the judges? The media? Indians? Who?"

Farhatullah Babar, Zardari's spokesman, tried to clear up the confusion.

"The president means people who are not in the government or any other organisation" one local newspaper quoted Babar as saying.
 
So who did he mean? Well, perhaps a few organisations. The army, the media and the judges.
 
It's no secret that the many in the PPP fear an army takeover if Zardari is forced out. But the army is part of the government so perhaps it's not them. 

Certain sections of the media here have been brutal towards the president. Some talk show hosts have destroyed his qualities as leader and that may have him riled.

Omar Waraich is a correspondent for The Independent, a UK newspaper. He watched the speech.

"He seems to be an embattled president, uncertain of his future, he feels people are picking fights with him unfairly," Waraich said.
 
But to actually respond to accusations from the media is, even in Pakistan, fairly surprising. After all, as president you expect some criticism.

But to actually respond to it ... well, that for some here has demeaned the office. "Look at him ... he is the president ... he should know better" were the terse words of Nour, an Islamabad resident.
 
But if not the media, then is it the judges? The supreme court overturned an amnesty allowing him to forgo charges of corruption cases against him.

As president he is immune to prosecution, but sources close to him have suggested that he was furious with the supreme court's decision.
 
Officially his office have not cleared up his words completely, suggesting that perhaps even they do not really know who he was referring to.

The president was certainly in fighting mood though. One comment was telling: "There are only two places for Asif Ali Zardari - either president or prime minister, house or jail."
 
For a man who has spent 11 years already in prison his words say a lot.

Waraich has spent a number of years now watching Zardari. "He appears to be saying either I am at the top ... or I am at the bottom," Waraich said.

It will be interesting to see where Zardari goes from here. Does he stay at the top, or will we see him at the bottom?

He is certainly up for a fight, or so his words would suggest. But who is he fighting?