Asif Zardari says Bilawal ‘not fully trained’ in politics

Former President Asif Ali Zardari said on Thursday that his son and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari was “not fully trained” in politics and would “take time” getting up to speed.

The PPP co-chairman made these remarks during an interview on Geo News programme ‘Capital Talk’ with journalist Hamid Mir.

To a question about Bilawal’s recent comments, in which he urged the nation to let older politicians “stay at home” and to give someone new a chance in the general elections, Zardari said: “Politics is my compulsion, not a necessity. Because Bibi sahiba was martyred, Bhutto sahib was martyred and thousands of our workers were martyred. So there is a debt on us and I am in politics for that.

“And then Bilawal is also not fully trained. [We] are training him,” he said.

“Bilawal is not trained?” asked an astonished Mir, to which Zardari shook his head.

“He’ll take time,” the PPP leader said. At the same time, Zardari said Bilawal was more talented, educated, and better-spoken than him but “experience is experience”.

Later in the interview, Zardari was asked about Bilawal’s views on older politicians. “The younger generation these days has their own thinking […] everyone has a right to express their thoughts,” he said.

He further said that stopping someone would only create more problems. “What if he says ‘you do politics, I will not’. Then what will I do?”

Zardari said Bilawal’s remarks were directed at everyone. “He is saying it to everyone and not just Zardari sahib.”

He said that politics took time and even he sometimes made mistakes. “It’s not like I don’t make [mistakes]. The journey of life is to learn from cradle to grave.”

Zardari said within the PPP there were “two parties”. “One is PPP and one is PPPP. I have PPPP and I am its president. Bilawal is the chairman of PPP,” he said, adding that he handed out tickets to party candidates.

Asked whether he was playing “good cop, bad cop”, Zardari said: “This is not a police station that good cop, bad cop is played to get a confession out of someone. If Bilawal was in business with me, he would’ve said the same thing. In politics too. This is every household’s story.”

Elections on Feb 8

At the outset of the interview, Zardari said that he was certain elections would take place in the country on February 8, 2024.

“That is why we are out and about, we have to cover all of Pakistan, go everywhere,” he said, adding that political campaigns were “healthy” for political parties.

‘Difficult’ experience with coalition govt

When asked about the PPP’s experience working with the coalition government, Zardari said that it was “very difficult”. “I said several things to Shehbaz sahib but he did not listen and it harmed the country,” he said, adding that these matters were related to trade.

At the same time, the PPP leader said he was “impressed” with Shehbaz, noting that he was a “workaholic” who would wake up early morning.

Asked about the possibility of working with the PML-N again, Zardari said, “Look, what is the chessboard? On the chessboard, neither the PML-N, the PPP, Maulana sahib nor any other party can take 172 [seats].”

Zardari said that the next government would be a “collective” and a “national unity government”.