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Earlier this week, the leader of the opposition in Pakistan’s National Assembly called on President Asif Ali Zardari to openly discuss his fears in parliament. There was, however, no need for Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan to extend this invitation for a national-level therapy session to the president, for the latter’s woes have been making newspaper headlines for weeks. Indeed, if Zardari’s recent stretch at the helm of Pakistan’s affairs is anything to go by, it really is lonely at the top. Sadly, this crisis of leadership could not come at a worse time for Pakistan.

In December, the country’s Supreme Court declared the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) — under which criminal and civil cases against certain politicians were suspended or discharged — unconstitutional. As a result, corruption cases against Zardari could be reopened, jeopardising his presidency. The NRO controversy fuelled calls for Zardari’s removal from public office, and this chorus was led by popular news anchors on Pakistan’s largest media group. By the end of last year, the president was feeling quite cornered, the fall guy of judicial activism and the favourite punching bag of the free press. Although the anti-Zardari voices have since subsided, the president’s troubles are far from over.

This year has kicked off with a wave of inter-party violence in Karachi — the country’s economic hub — that pits Zardari’s Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) against the politico-ethnic Muttahida Qaumi Movement, which forms part of the ruling coalition at the centre. The targeted killings of political activists from both sides is an extension of longstanding turf wars and criminal rackets in Karachi, but the escalation of violence in the past fortnight has shaken the ruling coalition, already fragile in the wake of the NRO brouhaha (betraying its alliance with the PPP, the MQM had opposed the ordinance).

Since Tuesday, the PPP and MQM have been making all the right noises to soothe inter-party tensions — peace committees have been constituted, and Zardari’s run up quite a phone bill placing long-distance calls to Altaf Hussain, the MQM chief who remains in self-exile in London. But analysts believe this latest tussle has revealed deep cracks in the ruling coalition.

To make matters worse, attempts to control the law and order situation in Karachi have earned Zardari the ire of his own party members. The federal government ordered an ‘operation’ in Lyari, the urban slum where most of the targeted killings took place. Ironically, Lyari is a PPP stronghold, and the brutality of police and paramilitary forces sent in to prevent more clashes has left many party workers enraged at their own elected representatives. For making this political blunder, Zardari and his right-hand men within the PPP have been criticised on the Senate floor by their colleagues within the party.

This infighting is the last thing Zardari needs as he faces heat from the opposition over a delayed constitutional reforms package (Zardari has long been promising to remove amendments that grant the president ‘anti-parliamentary powers’, such as the ability to dissolve the assembly).

It is believed that Zardari is putting off reforms because of a perceived threat from Nawaz Sharif, the chief of the opposition Pakistan Muslim League (PMLN). The president believes Sharif is eyeing his job, and in fiery speeches to his party workers has implied that all his recent troubles — including the NRO verdict — can be traced back to the PMLN chief’s desire to dislodge him from the presidency. Zardari’s paranoia about Sharif probably spiked this week when the Supreme Court directed the Election Commission to hold by-polls in Sharif’s Punjab constituency on March 10, which will allow the former prime minister to officially segue back into politics.

As Zardari is bullied on all fronts — by the judiciary, media, opposition, coalition partners — PPP stalwarts are focusing on damage control. The provincial assemblies in Sindh, Balochistan, and the Frontier have been moved to pass resolutions reposing confidence in the president. But in the province that matters — the Punjab, home of the PMLN — opposition members have refused to adopt a confidence resolution.

As pressure mounts, Zardari must be thinking that history is not on his side, as no elected government in Pakistan’s history has completed its term. But it is on this very point that the president can rest easy. The fact is, Pakistanis are desperate for political stability and will not relish the chaos of mid-term elections. Civil society wants to see Zardari’s government break the spell of abortive terms and cement the democratic set-up. Even Sharif is attuned to the public’s desire to see the coalition government through this term, and has muffled calls for mid-term elections.

This is a crucial time for Pakistan: an acute energy crisis has paralysed the country, the Indian and Pakistani militaries have been verbally sparring, extremists are fanning out to Sindh, and the US has renewed its calls for an army operation in the North Waziristan tribal agency. The country needs a leader, not a loner. Zardari should do whatever he can to consolidate the government, including appeasing coalition partners and pushing through constitutional