Zardari says 'Nawaz stabbed in my back'

KARACHI: Former president and PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari strongly criticised the ruling PML-N government and accused former prime minister Nawaz Sharif of stabbing him in the back but maintained that the government should be allowed to complete its term.

In an interview, the former president on Monday said that former prime minister Nawaz Sharif wants to "stir a fight between Islamabad and Rawalpindi".

While sharing his views on Nawaz's re-appointment as party chief after he was disqualified from holding any public office by apex court in panama papers case, the former president said a disqualified individual cannot become a party's president in a democratic system. 

He said that following his statement, Sharif, who was then the sitting prime minister, did not hold a meeting with him.

The PPP co-chairman had gone abroad in June 2015 and stayed in Dubai and London for nearly 18 months, following his controversial statement allegedly against the military.

However, reports had suggested that Nawaz had declined to meet the former president. There had been no official word on the matter from either side. adding that "Nawaz stabbed in my back".

"I do not care about Nawaz Sharif's luncheon; I do not eat 'Paaye'," he said, adding, "I took my own meal along whenever I had a lunch with him."

The PPP co-chairman revealed that he has received "ten messages from Nawaz Sharif since the time he started taking heat, but did not have a word with him."

He maintained that sending a politician to prison does not weaken him, however,  headded, "Let's see, which jail Nawaz is sent to; in Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan or Sindh."

To a question he said that there is a huge difference between playing cricket, running a country, adding that "God forbid Imran should be destined in Pakistan's fate to govern".

Rejecting the Musharraf allegations, he said that those who washed out the site, where Benazir was martyred, were promoted by Punjab government.