Women chant slogans against Zardari at Benazir’s mausoleum

Angry female supporters and workers of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) on Friday chanted slogans against former president Asif Ali Zardari at the mausoleum of Benazir Bhutto in Garhi Khuda Bux.

According to a video that is making rounds on social media, disenchanted PPP supporters gathered around the grave of Benazir to voice their concerns against the party leadership. They chanted slogans against PPP Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari while observing Benazir’s 11^th death anniversary.

Speaking mostly in Sindhi language, these women blamed Zardari for the problems faced by the PPP.

On Saturday, former president Zardari visited Benazir’s mausoleum and offered fateha at her grave. Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah was also present on the occasion.

Former president Zardari and PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on Friday said that the party’s leadership would not be threatened or “brought down” by political pressure.

On Thursday, the former president’s name was placed on the Exit Control List (ECL) along with the names of his son Bilawal and sister Faryal Talpur by the federal government following a joint investigative report as part of a mega money-laundering probe.

Addressing a political gathering in Ghotki, Zardari said that a nation aware of its [constitutional and human] rights could not be threatened, assuring his supporters that they have no reason to be afraid in light of the turn of events as the PPP leadership does not bow down easily.

Zardari began his speech with a jibe aimed at the federal government. “I am speaking in Urdu because those who reside in Islamabad appear to be deaf and blind,” he said.

Referring to the 18th Amendment, the PPP co-chairman said that the 18th Amendment granted autonomy to provinces. He said that the PPP government had given provinces their due right in natural resources.

“The law was passed unanimously by the Parliament. Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and Balochistan have the same rights as Sindh,” he added.

“The gas and gold mines do not personally belong to me. We have chartered public-private partnerships. PPP’s philosophy stands for the rights of poor people,” he said.