PDM to use 'all options to get rid of the PTI regime', Zardari vows

LAHORE: The Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) "will use all options to get rid of the PTI regime", former president and PPP Co-Chairperson Asif Ali Zardari vowed on Sunday.

Zardari, whose party, the PPP, is part of the anti-government coalition of Pakistan's Opposition groups, warned that the PTI-led regime was likely to "make a huge blunder" by putting the country "in grave danger".

The former president made the remarks during a phone call to the secretary-general of the PPP's Punjab chapter, Chaudhry Manzoor.

"The PDM is united and will strike the government from all directions," he said. "Together with the PDM, the PPP will send this failed and incompetent lot home. It's crucial to send the government packing."

"The incompetence of these inept rulers may lead to a major accident in the country [and therefore] the next few months are crucial for the future of national politics."

Speaking of the ongoing pandemic, the PPP leader — whose son and party chairperson Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari contracted COVID-19 in November 2020 and recovered a month later — stressed that the Khan administration would "no longer be allowed to hide behind coronavirus".

"They [the government] could neither purchase the coronavirus vaccine nor could they help people during the coronavirus pandemic," he stated.

PPP govt 'doubled the country's revenue'

Comparing the PTI regime to his own government, Asif Zardari cited the Great Recession and said: "We increased exports from $19 billion to $26 billion despite the 2008 global financial crisis."

"We doubled the country's revenue, increased the salaries of employees by 125%. We bumped up government employees' pensions by 100%," he added.

Slamming the "incompetent" PTI government, he said that the rulers had "turned all indicators negative".

"I said in the past that these elected rulers will fall under their own weight. Now that they have crashed, only one last shove is needed," he said.