Nawaz was opportunist and still the same, say Zardari, Bilawal

ISLAMABAD: Former president Asif Ali Zardari and Pakistan People's Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said on Thursday that Nawaz Sharif is an opportunist and meeting with him is impossible. He also refused to meet Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, who had approached the leader of the opposition in the National Assembly asking him to play his role in arranging a meeting with Asif Ali Zardari the other day.
The political gap between the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) further widened in the current political horizon after former president Asif Ali Zardari on Thursday once again refused to hold a meeting with ex-prime minister Nawaz Sharif.
According to sources, Asif Ali Zardari has remarked that Nawaz Sharif is responsible for the current political situation. “The disqualified premier talks about the Charter of Democracy only when he finds himself in trouble,” commented Zardari. Zardari's response came after Nawaz Sharif said on Wednesday that he is willing to have an unconditional dialogue with Asif Ali Zardari.
Meanwhile, PPP chairman dubbing Nawaz Sharif as an ‘opportunist’ said that he had been involved in every conspiracy hatched against democracy in the last 30 years. Speaking to the media in Lahore, Bilawal advised the former premier to accept the rule of law. He (Nawaz Sharif) is a threat to democracy, Bilawal alleged.
He requested the former prime minister to refrain himself from what he is doing. All parties are in agreement on the continuity of the democratic process in the country. The PPP has made sacrifices for democracy as it has a certain ideology about democracy. However, Nawaz Sharif knows nothing about it (democracy), Bilawal said.
While Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Syed Khursheed Shah has conveyed the message of Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi to meet Asif Ali Zardari and PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari seeking their help to pass the constitutional amendment to pave the way for delimitation of electoral constituencies on the basis of the provisional results of the population census. The government is facing difficulties to get a two-thirds majority in the Senate for the passage of the constitutional amendment and seeking the PPP's help to provide the required strength for the passage of the constitutional amendment.
The sources in the PPP told The News that the PPP had decided not to make any compromise with the government on this issue and would follow the other opposition parties in the Senate and would take the decision whatever the other opposition parties would decide.
Meanwhile, PPP Secretary General Nayyar Hussain Bukhari has said that there is a vast difference between the leadership of PPP and PML-N. He said former president Asif Ali Zardari strengthened democracy and parliament and gave powers to the federating units.
Parliament became the center of politics. Whereas Nawaz Sharif has used parliament to promote and safeguard his family’s interests. Now he has turned parliament into a laughing stock, he said.
The PPP secretary general said that Nawaz Sharif was trying to take help from the examples of Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto but does not remember his violations of the Charter of Democracy. “Nawaz Sharif left the Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy and formed All Pakistan Democratic Movement (APDM) at a time when the Charter of Democracy was most relevant,” he said.
Bukhari said the PML-N members are annoyed with Nawaz Sharif’s policies and were raising voices against the PML-N's stance on different issues. He said the PPP workers know very well how to defend democracy and are ready to offer sacrifices for it. “Nawaz Sharif is only making the noise to protect his family and not democracy, “he said.