Mutiny planned in Punjab bureaucracy: Zardari

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari has said former prime minister Nawaz Sharif is now reaping what he has sown.

Addressing a press conference here Friday at Zardari House, he criticised Nawaz Sharif for his rhetoric against the institutions, saying that weakening of the institutions would only weaken the country. “Nawaz Sharif is targeting the institutions of the country with his rhetoric and provoking people against them,” he added.

Other party leaders including PPP Secretary General Nayyer Hussain Bokhari, Vice President Senator Sherry Rehman, PPP Punjab Secretary General Chaudhry Manzoor, Senator Farhatullah Babar and Nadeem Afzal Chan were also present on the occasion.

Zardari blamed the Punjab government for the current ‘rebellion’ in the Punjab bureaucracy after the arrest of former director general (DG) Lahore Development Authority (LDA) Ahad Cheema, though he did not name anyone.

The PPP co-chairman said rebellion is being created in Punjab bureaucracy as some people think that after Mian Sahib, they would also face the consequences.

He said if the institutions weaken, then the examples of Afghanistan should be kept in mind where all institutions had been destroyed and the allied forces, despite spending trillions of dollars, are not able to establish the army of Afghanistan.

He said when Justice Qayyum awarded sentence to him, a leaked voice tape later on proved that Shahbaz Sharif was dictating the judge for awarding him jail term.

“But we did not go against the institutions and even did not ridicule the institutions and got relief from there,” he added.

To a question about the “ouster” of PML-N from Senate elections, Zardari did not agree with the questioner, saying that the PML-N outcry of being out from the Senate election is not correct as their candidates are in the race to contest the Senate elections but as independent candidates.

About the motion to put Pakistan on Financial Action Task Force, the former president said it was a failure of the government. He said it was the government's incompetence over the four years which allowed India to take advantage. He said the PPP had been asking the government for the last four years to appoint a full-fledged foreign minister to bring the country out of diplomatic isolation.

“Our neighbour India is shrewd and making all-out efforts to isolate us diplomatically,” he said adding that there was no need to worry about it as the PPP had also faced similar situation in the past, and foiled the attempts through diplomacy, with the help of the establishment and parliament.

He said Pakistan’s enemies were making efforts to weaken Pakistan and even Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was investing in Middle East and getting permissions for establishing temples there. “Everyone knows how the Muslims in India are facing problems and how their lives have been made difficult there. Even many Muslim families are forced to leave India and settle in Canada and other countries,” he added. “India is taking advantage of the government incompetence and if anyone thinks that India can ever become Pakistan’s friend, he is wrong,” he said.

He said India is no more secular and has been turned into Hindutva. “However, if it attempts any misadventure, we are ready for it,” he added.

In reply to a question, he said Nawaz Sharif did not do anything without commission. He did not give due share to other provinces: Pakhtuns, Baloch and Sindhis but only to Lahore, as other areas of Punjab are also neglected.

About sending Pakistani troops to Saudi Arabia, Zardari defended the government decision, saying that he could not oppose the decision because he could not "let down the Custodian of the Holy Ka’aba", and it was the legacy of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto government, which continues in successive governments. “1,600 soldiers could not win a war, they can only train people," he said.

In a reply to another question, Zardari said it was for the first time that "institutions of the state are working completely neutral.”

He praised Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa's initiative to fence the Pak-Afghan border and hoped that relations with Afghanistan would improve in future.

He said the PML-N government had only given funds to Lahore and ignored the whole Pakistan. “I went to Taunsa Sharif recently and I saw the condition of its roads. Even the old areas of Lahore city are in a shambles. They have only spent money on railroads and roads that lead to their own lands," he said.

Defending PPP's loss in the last year's by-election in NA-120 and earlier this month in Lodhran, in which both the candidates of the PPP lost miserably, Zardari accused the ruling party of spending billions of rupees on their campaigns in order to grab votes.

He said the election budget of Rs4 billion was reserved for Lahore due to which they got votes from there, while in development schemes as well provision of gas and electricity, they managed to win the elections."

Getting votes is easy if your party is in power as the administration there is also their while half of Punjab's politics is run through SHOs,” he said adding that unless and until there was no change in the Punjab administration, there would be no change as from the SP to SHOs they have appointed their own man.

However, he admitted that if former prime minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani and PPP South Punjab President visited Lodhran and came to know that election results would be different.

He said audit of 2013 elections, which were RO (returning officers) elections. The Audit department objected to printing of the ballot papers from the private printers.

He, however, admitted that PPP's performance "might not have been up to the mark" and said that the party had formed new "election rules" as well as a manifesto.

About upcoming Senate elections, he said unlike the candidates nominated by other parties, the PPP had issued tickets to political people, who had contacts in their respective constituencies.

In a reply to another question about a role in change of Balochistan government, he denied his role in it. However, he smilingly said. “I had only prayed for a change.”

To another question about horse-trading in the upcoming Senate elections, he said: “Who could win better than Nawaz Sharif in horse-trading.”

About the return of General (Retd) Pervez Musharraf, Zardari said when Musharraf comes back then the law would come into action.

Asked about the third marriage of PTI Chairman Imran Khan and whether he would congratulate him, Zardari said he did not want to make a comment on it as it was his personal matter, either he marries thrice or for four times. “But we have no such relations that I send him good wishes on his third marriage,” he remarked.

To another question about the impression that Bilawal Bhutto Zardari was kept back and he ran all affairs of the party, the former president did not agree with the questioner. He said he did not see how Bilawal had defended Pakistan better than him at the international forums.