–PPP co-chairman says PPP never targetted rival politicians in name of accountability
–Mocks PM’s U-turn statement, says Hitler was no hero
SADIQABAD: Former president and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Co-Chairman Asif Ali Zardari on Sunday criticised the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government, saying that the incumbent government won’t last long.
Addressing a gathering in Sadiqabad, the former president said, “I doubt Prime Minister Imran Khan’s government would be able to survive as the prime minister could neither handle the economy nor the government.”
“If you don’t deliver you will have to go home,” he warned.
The PPP leader accused the PTI of stealing PPP’s south Punjab slogan and demanded that the government fulfill its promise of forming separate south Punjab province. “Why don’t they announce [a separate province]? Why don’t they divide Punjab’s budget? But they never intended to [act on their promise]. They don’t have any understanding of politics.”
Giving his party the credit for bringing 18th Amendment that gives autonomy to provinces, the ex-president said his party alone had given rights to the provinces and pulled the country out of the crises it faced during Pervez Musharraf’s government. “If PPP comes to power again, it will ensure that the provinces, which produce gas and water, received royalties,” he promised.
“If I hadn’t given powers to the parliament, then a dentist [Arif Alvi] would not have been the president of the country today,” he said.
The PPP co-chairman, who was under a lot of pressure for his alleged involvement in use of fake accounts for money laundering, lashed out at the PTI for targetting its political rivals in the name of accountability. He said that the PPP government “held no political prisoners, nor did it think of holding anyone accountable”.
On the occasion, Zardari also emphasised on the looming threat of water shortage in the country, for which building dams is essential. “Current water shortage is due to theft,” the former president commented
He mocked the premier’s recent statements regarding U-turns and European leaders such as Napoleon Bonaparte and Adolf Hitler. “Hitler killed 55 million people, he was no hero,” Zardari took a jibe at the premier.
The PM had sparked nationwide responses when he said that a leader who does not take “U-turns” according to requirements of the situation is not a ‘real leader’.
Talking to journalists at the Prime Minister’s House, he had cited an example from his cricket days when he led Pakistan’s national team, saying, “We used to make strategies for matches but if those plans failed to deliver then we would make new strategies.”
PM Khan referred to Adolf Hitler and Napoleon Bonaparte and said, “Hitler and Napoleon suffered huge defeats and caused losses as they did not take U-turns.”
Meanwhile, Senator Islamuddin Shaikh gifted a high-bred horse to Zardari on Friday.
Zardari had stayed at Shaikh’s house in Sukkur and was given the gift on the occasion. The former president, who is a horse enthusiast, was gifted a black coloured horse by the senator.