Calling President Asif Ali Zardari a “great threat” to the country, Opposition Leader in the National Assembly Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan on Saturday said the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) had been fooling the nation for the last four years with hollow slogans and the president’s address to the parliament reflected the same.
Commenting on the president’s fifth address to the parliament, Nisar said that during its four-year rule, the PPP had failed in resolving the people’s problems and Zardari had made false claims of good governance during his speech. “During his tenure, Zardari did nothing for the betterment of people and rather remained busy in brokering deals, as he is good in that,” Nisar said while talking to reporters outside the Parliament Lodges.
“I wonder which Pakistan Zardari was talking about…In the Pakistan, where we are living, is a state of misery. People are facing unemployment and hours-long load-shedding. In his speech, the president claimed that the government had reduced its expenditure, but in fact, the expenditures have increased manifold,” Nisar said. He said that he was astonished to see how the president could deliver such a confident speech “after doing what he has done to the country”. Zardari claimed in his speech that the PPP government had done a lot for Balochistan, Nisar said, asking, “What have they done for Balochistan.” The government had banned electronic media from the live coverage of the House proceedings, compelling the media to talk to politicians outside the Parliament Lodges.
To a query about the protest by opposition parties during Zardari’s speech, Nisar said, “We thought it would be a big joke and great injustice with the nation if Zardari talks and we keep listening to him silently.” He said all opposition parties of the country, including the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F), National Party, PML-Likeminded and the PPP-Sherpao, had participated in the protest.
JUI-F’s reaction: Although JUI-F chief Fazlur Rehman did not criticise the president’s address as strongly as the PML-N, he said that early elections were the solution for all problems.
While talking to Pakistan Today, a JUI-F spokesman said the president in his speech failed to give any roadmap for resolving issues confronting the people.
PTI’s reaction: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf Information Secretary Shafqat Mahmood said the only good aspect of President Asif Zardari address to the joint session of parliament was that it was the fifth time that he performed this ritual.
“Otherwise in his entire speech, he distorted facts to prove that the government had performed well over the last four years,” he said.
All Pakistan Muslim League (APML): APML Secretary General Barrister Muhammad Ali Saif said the PPP during its four-year tenure had delivered nothing except mounting corruption, inflation, disappointment and devastation of major national institutions.
“The years that PPP remained in power are the worst in the parliamentary history of the country, as the House failed to bring any roadmap to redress the ongoing challenges of the country. Even in his address, the president didn’t announce any policy to address the ongoing crisis,” he said.
President’s speech a ‘jugglery of words’
