I won’t flee, will make govt again: Zardari

Says PPP handed over reins of govt to Nawaz Sharif despite reservations; alternative to democracy is dreadful; it is not possible that a capitalist family rules the country and also suppresses the people; PPP activists give warm welcome to party co-chairman

KARACHI: Former president and Co-chairman of Pakistan People's Party Asif Ali Zardari has claimed that the PPP would again form the government at the Centre and that he will not flee. “The day will come when we will again form the government through the power of masses. We will again sit in the (elected) houses and God willing will change the destiny of the people of Pakistan,” he said. 

The former president was addressing a massive gathering of his party’s supporters at the Old Terminal of Karachi Airport as he arrived here on Friday afternoon after ending his around 18-months’ long self-exile.

Speaking on the occasion, Zardari said that Pakistan will never become a failed state as we will never let democracy get derailed in the country. “We have no alternative to democracy as any alternative to democracy is quite dreadful,” he warned.

“We would not like to become another Syria,” said the former president in his 15 minute-long address to a gathering of his party’s supporters who spread out from the Old Terminal area to the main Sharae Faisal.

Interestingly, the former president’s speech had no mention or even hint towards the actions taken by the Sindh Rangers in Karachi a few hours before his arrival in the country when several offices of his alleged business partner Anwar Majeed were raided along with rounding up of some of the employees working there.

“I am back and I have brought with me a message of hope not that of despondency as several important developments are taking place around the world,” said the former president as he reached Karachi at around 3:10pm from Dubai via a special chartered plane.

“With the grace of God, the strength of our armed forces and unity of the people, our frontiers are fully protected and this is a matter of great satisfaction for us,” he said.

The PPP’s co-chairman said that whether or not “Mian sahib’s mandate” was valid, PPP had transferred the power in a  democratic manner so that there should be continuity of democracy in the country.

He said the PPP, after the death of Benazir Bhutto, had once again formed the government while the powers that be in the past had conspired against the party and carved out constituencies with their own hands. 

“For the first time we completed our five-year constitutional term,” said Zardari. He said that his party would strengthen the democratic order as according to the ideology of his party “democracy is the best revenge”.

He said the same had been the words clearly uttered by BB (Benazir Bhutto) Shaheed when she addressed the US Congress. He said that both Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and Benazir Bhutto had been mercilessly martyred in the country.

The former president said that he would use the peoples’ power to prevent a “capitalist family” from committing further excesses against the masses.  “How come we abandon the people of Pakistan especially at such a time when a capitalist family has been committing excesses against the masses,” he said.

He said that whenever he had left the country, including the time when he was the president of the country, it had been alleged by “political actors and fellows having horses” that he had run away from the country.

“But I would like to tell them that they should expel such trash from their minds as even our dead bodies will be buried here. We have to die in this country and have to get buried in Garhi Khuda Bakhsh,” he said.

Regarding the CPEC (China-Pakistan Economic Corridor), he claimed that the one who had conceived this plan had not been consulted (by the government) when it came to building this corridor project. “These people only take interest in contracts. Their thinking is also limited but our vision is for progress of children of the next generations as this included the future of Bilawal and the rest of the children of the country,” he said. 

Zardari said the CPEC project would begin more development projects in the entire region. “We were used to reading about the importance of the Silk Road as at that time there were many affluent countries. The present time is about the importance of East as the future lies with Pakistan, China, and people of this region,” he said. He said that no nation helped any other nation without any reason as mutual requirements formed the basis of cooperation.

The former president said the CPEC project would not only benefit Pakistan and China but would also open avenues of development for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Sindh, Punjab, and Balochistan. This project has been designed keeping in view all these aspects, he said.

“This project will lead to development of many roads and passages but this is just one factor of this project. I will continue to speak on this issue,” he said. On the Kashmir issue, he said that Pakistan’s flag had become a symbol of struggle in the region of Kashmir. He eulogized the freedom movement waged by the Kashmiri people saying that daring Kashmiri youth had been engaged in the freedom struggle with courage while combating the Indian Army and the Hindu rule there.

The former president said that aspirations of the Kashimiri people waging the struggle could not be dampened. He said that a nation’s ambitions could never be brought down when it struggled with complete resolve and aspirations.

The former president claimed that wherever he had went around the globe, he had forcefully advocated the viewpoint of Pakistan. He said that he had convinced the world that Pakistan was not a country inhabited by miscreants. “We have democracy, which is getting stronger. It doesn’t make any difference as to who is in power today and who will be tomorrow,” he said.

He said that the present era belonged to social media as social media had become popular among youth while television was seen losing its influence. It should be mentioned here that the former president addressed workers and supporters of the party using a special armoured and bomb-proof truck earlier used by the Chairman of the party Bilawal Bhutto Zardari to address different public rallies. Senior leaders of the party, including Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah and former CM Qaim Ali Shah, received the former president at the Old Terminal. Later, Asif Zardari was taken to the Bilawal House in Clifton using a helicopter.

Zardari said that he would make a detailed speech at Garhi Khuda Bakhsh on December 27 on the occasion of the death anniversary of Benazir Bhutto. He claimed he would give some good news to the people on that occasion.   APP adds: Strict security measures were taken as about 5 000 policemen were deployed in the area to provide security cover on the occasion.