Former president and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari on Tuesday said that putting him in jail would only lead to an increase in his popularity.
While addressing a gathering in Nawabshah, he said that there were conspiracies being hatched to put him in jail and if they materialise, he would become “even more popular”.
He said that getting arrested was not a big deal for him since he had been involved in different conflicts with the previous governments.
The former president alleged that former premier Nawaz Sharif and Prime Minister Imran Khan had come into power through backdoor deals.
“Dealers know how to strike deals but they do not know how to run a country,” he said.
The former president also took a jibe at PM Khan’s recent visits to Saudi Arabia and China to secure financial assistance, saying, “Our prime minister is on a world tour with a begging bowl in his hands.” He added that the PPP government ran the affairs of the country through own resources and did not pick up the ‘begging bowl’.
The PPP leader also commented on the trade deal Pakistan struck with China in local currency, saying that his government had struck similar deals with six different countries.
Zardari, along with his sister Faryal Talpur, former Pakistan Stock Exchange chairman Hussain Lawai, Summit Bank Senior Vice President Taha Raza and Omni Group’s Anwar Majeed, is being investigated by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) for alleged money laundering of over Rs35 billion through fake bank accounts.
Last week, the former president had said that he cannot be put behind bars until it is proven that he got fictitious bank accounts opened and deposited money in them.
