Zardari ready to talk to Nawaz

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Co-Chairman, Asif Ali Zardari, on Sunday termed Imran Khan a select prime minister and hinted at mending fences with ex-premier Nawaz Sharif.

Zardari said all the political parties needed to jointly bring a resolution against the government, predicting that it won’t be able to function for long.

“Imran cannot run the government or his party,” the former president said while addressing a press conference here after a meeting of the People’s Lawyers Forum. Attendees at the event also passed a resolution, the contents of which, among other things, stated that the incumbent government’s incompetence has been laid bare in a short time. Zardari claimed the PPP delivered in its five years of government.

Responding to a question, the former president said that he never benefited from the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) and that all the cases against him were reopened. He said former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) might have benefited from the deal.

The NRO, passed by former military ruler Pervez Musharraf in 2007, granted amnesty to politicians and other individuals by quashing various corruption and criminal cases against them so they could return to the country and engage in the democratic process.

When asked about the reasons of annoyance with Nawaz Sharif, Zardari said Nawaz Sharif was responsible for whatever his happening with him. But at the same time, he did not rule out the possibility of holding talks with Nawaz Sharif, saying that despite all these issues, talks can be held with the ex-premier.

Asked about the remarks of Imran Khan that conspiracies were being hatched against him, Zardari said Islamabad is the centre of conspiracies. When asked why the PPP and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) were criticising the NAB Chairman Justice (R) Javed Iqbal though he was appointed by both the parties, the former president said he was a good person, but his thinking had changed.

“When some people are given important offices, there manners change completely and they show their mentality,” he said. Zardari said when he was the president, despite having all the powers, he transferred powers to the parliament.

When asked whether he was satisfied with the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) constituted by the Supreme Court of Pakistan in fake bank accountsscam, Zardari restricted himself, saying that so far they were only calling the servants.

Zardari said when Pervez Musharraf took power, then there was the same economic situation, but he benefitted from the 9/11 incident and got the foreign aid. “But when the PPP came to power, at that time all the aid had already dried up, but we accepted the challenge and stopped the depreciation of rupee and adopted futuristic policies,” he said, adding that the PPP’s futuristic polices were not liked by Nawaz Sharif in his tenure.

Zardari claimed the PPP gave the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and many other programmes to Pakistan during its tenure. “We have to decide whether Pakistan is an agricultural country, agro-industrial or industrial country. When we took charge we raised the support price of wheat and the next year we were able to have exportable wheat,” he said.

Zardari said the PPP had delivered on many areas, but the “select prime minister’ used the helicopter for travelling between his home and office. “Law should be the same for everyone. For the ‘select prime minister’, it was being said that he should regularise his house in Banigala, while the homes of common people were being demolished,” he said.