Confrontation with institutions dangerous, Zardari tells Nawaz

LAHORE: Former president Asif Ali Zardari on Tuesday warned the PML-N head Nawaz Sharif to avoid confrontation with institutions.

“Nawaz Sharif is playing a dangerous game while confronting with the institutions as this play may bring forth dangerous consequences,” said Zardari, who was talking to PPP ticket holders from Lahore at the Bilawal House.

The former president said the country was passing through a very critical phase and the situation demanded that the leadership should act wisely and sagaciously. He said the country’s economic situation was also alarming and it was behind the level where the PPP had left it in 2013.

Zardari went on to say that Punjab was slipping from the hands of Sharifs and they were losing their ground even in Lahore, adding that the PML-N was carrying out development in the Punjab capital just for political survival. He said he was well aware of the grievances of the party workers and a committee would finalise the names of candidates from Lahore in the next general elections. He added that the PML-N was a party of the central Punjab only whereas the PTI was confined to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, adding that his party would win seats from all the four provinces and workers must gear themselves up for polls.

On the other hand, former Punjab governor Sardar Zulfiqar Khosa is likely to join the PPP and will announce his decision in upcoming days in his native district Dera Ghazi Khan, The News has learnt.

In a meeting with Zardari on Tuesday at the DHA residence of Khosa, the veteran politician was extended an invitation by the former president to join the PPP.

Sources say Khosa has been convinced by two senior PPP leaders – former National Assembly deputy speaker Nawaz Khokhar and former interior minister Makhdoom Faisal Saleh Hayat.During the meeting, Zardari was flanked by Hayat and another noted party figure from Sahiwal Chaudhry Naurez Shakoor.

According to the sources, Khosa has agreed to join the PPP and is expected to make the announcement in his hometown during the visit of Zardari in the coming days.

Khosa, who remained a staunch Muslim Leaguer since beginning his political career from the 1962 West Pakistan Assembly polls, served as a provincial minister, governor and senator in different terms.

He remained a close aide of former PM Nawaz Sharif since 1985 but parted ways with him owing to differences with the party leadership over multiple issues such as inclusions of Legharis, his rival group from DG Khan, in the PML-N.

His son Dost Mohammed Khosa also served as Chief Minister Punjab for a brief period in 2008 and later as the local government minister in Shahbaz Sharif’s cabinet.