‘Nil performance’

ISLAMABAD: Former president and PPPP President Asif Ali Zardari on Monday said things had come to a standstill in the almost six-month tenure of the PTI government and warned that if the country headed towards a failed state, then no one would come to its rescue. Speaking in the National Assembly, Zardari observed that friendly countries were extending support to the government because they did not want to see Pakistan as a failed state.

He said in the last six-month tenure of the government, none of the issues could be resolved. “In the first six months of my tenure, my government addressed and resolved half of the issues,” he said.

Expressing dissatisfaction with the performance of the PTI government, the PPP leader said the opposition would not have to topple the government. “The government is being eaten by termite and we do not have to topple it,” he said. He advised the government to rein in the NAB for removing a sense of insecurity among bureaucrats so that things could move forward.

Calling for keeping a check on the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), he said the NAB chairman should be summoned in parliament to answer questions related to cases against politicians.

“Parliamentarians should not meet the NAB chairman rather he should be summoned in parliament,” said Zardari. He was referring to reports that some parliamentarians had written to the NAB chairman that they wanted to meet him.

Following the speech of the Opposition Leader Shahbaz Sharif, Zardari said he had faced the NAB in the past and would continue to do so but he feared what would happen if they (government leaders) were called by the Bureau. “I am not talking about myself but I fear about you when you will be called by NAB,” he said, adding that they wanted to strengthen democracy and parliament.

Earlier, on arriving in the House, the PPP leader was warmly welcomed by the PML-N parliamentarians, including Shahbaz Sharif and Rana Tanveer Hussain. Zardari and Shahbaz had a long handshake followed by an exchange of views between the PPP leader and Rana Tanveer.

At start of his speech, Zardari said he was happy to note that Nawaz Sharif and his daughter had got relief from the Supreme Court. “We do not want to see anyone’s daughter behind the bars,” he said and thanked the chief justice for giving direction for removal of Bilawal’s name from the Exit Control List (ECL). Zardari also strongly criticised the phenomena of constitution of JITs and said he himself and his family appeared before the NAB and JIT. “The JITs are constituted, people are taken from other institutions to disgrace politicians on television channels,” he said.