PTI-led govt won’t last: Zardari

Nawabshah: Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari said this week that he had already predicted the Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI)-led government will not deliver and will not last.

Without naming anyone, the former president said that he was asked to offer assistance and share some formula but he told them that first this government should be sent packing and then talks could be held.

He was addressing party workers at Zardari House and a reception hosted in his honour by MPA Tariq Masood Arain in Nawabshah.

He said that building Pakistan was easy but they could neither build the country nor listen and understand. But time would come that they would have to listen, understand and follow our advice, he said without naming anyone.

The PPP leader expressed concern over the present situation Pakistan is facing. He said that the rulers ate, earned dollars and slept whereas the country’s debt had risen from $30bn to $60bn. “We have best economic wizards and we have the ability to get rid of debt,” he said. “The longer they [rulers] stay the more difficulties will have to be faced to undo the wrong.” He said the PPP had taken care of Pakistan and would take care of it again.

“I had said earlier that if NAB (National Accountability Bureau) keeps working, this government will not work and today they [government] are running NAB and not government,” he asserted and said that secretaries of government departments were not willing to sign papers. “Now relaxation is being given to bureaucrats in NAB laws but it is of no avail because damage has already been done”, he said.

He said that rate of dollar had risen considerably and it was hovering over Rs180. “The country doesn’t need devaluation (of rupee) and those talking about devaluation are fool and this has harmed the country,” he said.

He said that PPP had given jobs to people and raised salaries of government employees while controlling price hike and keep dollar’s rate under check.

He accused PTI-led government of destroying everything. “There is a tsunami of price hike and a mini budget is being presented”, he said. He said the PPP never rendered anyone jobless and would not do so again when elected to power. He said Benazir Bhutto used to say if giving jobs to people was a crime then it would be committed again and again.

Zaradari said that he had stated in his first speech in parliament after 2018 general elections that this “hotchpotch sort” of government would not deliver. “But now situation has come to such a pass that people ask me for assistance and or to share a formula and devise a mechanism. I said first this government should be sent packing and then we will start talking. We will take care of Pakistan as we have earlier done it. Whenever Pakistan faces a difficult situation PPP has rescued the country.”