PPP consultative meeting
Zardari says all promises of rulers proved hollow, false; tasks party
leaders to renew contacts with political parties, leaders in Punjab
LAHORE: Pakistan People’s Party Co-chairperson Asif Zardari has launched a new round of political manoeuvring in the central Punjab to make a political alliance against the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-N for the elections next year.
He held marathon consultative meetings with the party stalwarts from the Punjab at the Bilawal House on Saturday and assigned them various tasks of renewing contacts with different political parties and leaders.
Those who attended the meeting were PPP Punjab President Qamar Zaman Kaira, former governor Sardar Latif Khosa, Manzoor Wattoo, Faisal Karim Kundi and others.
Sources said the party leaders would be making contacts with like-minded political leaders in the coming days to establish a political alliance in order to increase pressure on the ruling party and rearrange alignments against the ruling party.
Addressing the meeting, Zardari issued directives to party leaders and workers to step up protests against load-shedding and holding the ruling party accountable for the outages. Zardari said the protests against loadshedding would continue in all the four provinces.
The former president said the rulers had been trapped in the mess they had created themselves. He said the rulers had been entangled in the web of lies and corruption they had created themselves and they would be unable to get out of it. He wondered why the rulers show anger when they are reminded of the promises they had made with the people during their election campaigns.
Zardari said the people of Lahore and Punjab had always extended support to the PPP in the past, adding that people had been standing behind the PPP and would root out the looters and plunderers in the upcoming elections. He said the PPP, under the leadership of Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, was committed to standing by the people in every hour of trial and ensuring provision of all facilities to them.
Zardari said ‘Go Nawaz go’ had become the slogan of the entire nation, which showed that the rulers would have to go at all costs. He said the PPP would continue to expose the loot and plunder of the PML-N government. He said Nawaz Sharif had lost every justification to stay in power after the Supreme Court judgment in the Panama Leaks case.
Later, Zardari made a quick trip to Pattoki in a helicopter to offer condolences to the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf leader Sardar Talib Nakai on the demise of his mother. The deceased was the wife of former Punjab chief minister Sardar Arif Nakai.
Former chief minister Mian Manzoor Wattoo, Nadeem Afzal Chan, PPP Information Secretary Chaudhry Manzoor and others also accompanied Asif Zardari.
Agencies add: Asif Zardari told the party leaders that all promises and claims of the rulers have proven to be hollow and false. He said the PPP would keep reminding the rulers of their promises.
Sources said it was decided in the meetings that protests against loadshedding would continue and it would be extended to other provinces as well.