KARACHI: As Pakistan continues to expel unregistered Afghan refugees and the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf struggles for political space in the lead-up to the general election, former President Asif Ali Zardari has made startling claims about an alleged PTI plan involving Afghan voters.
Zardari made the claims in Faisla Aap Ka with Asma Shirazi on Aaj News adding that the reason Imran Khan talked about Afghans because he had issued them identity cards in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and had had their votes registered. He added that the voters had been part of the last elections as well.
When asked if he would approach the Election Commission of Pakistan over the issue, Zardari said he believed the ECP was looking into the matter.
Asif Zardari hopeful of Bilawal’s election victory on February 8
However, he did not say whether this meant that things in KP were suitable for elections adding that the matter of polls was a ‘larger’ debate.
Without naming Imran Khan, Zardari added that the ‘ladla’ had been launched by General Hameed Gul (retd) but had gone back and forth as different projects were brought to power.
Referring to Imran Khan’s first wife, Zardari said that overseas Pakistanis were influenced by ‘other nations’ as well.
He added that Jemima was ‘paying’ vloggers outside the country who were claiming Imran will win the upcoming elections.
Zardari said that Imran was running a ‘cult democracy’ instead of a parliamentary democracy. He added that he had tried to get all parties to sign a cahrter of democracy.
When asked why Bilawal Bhutto Zardari was identifying Nawaz as the ‘ladla’, Zardari denied that his son had named anyone. He went on to say that it was Imran Khan who was still the ‘favourite’ of the powers that be.
He added that PTI’s candidates were only lawyers who were fighting Imran Khan’s cases. He also said that all of PTI’s leaders were from PPP’s nursery.
‘Democratic fight’
Zardari said that the democratic fight and the process of ‘recycling’ must go on.
“Establishment. god forgive them, for they know not,” Zardari said. He added that going forward, he intended to educate the establishment as well.
He said that establishment and other political stakeholders had to be taken forward together.
Zardari said that democracy had ‘a lot’ of strength and what is needed is to control it, understand it and use it.
When asked if the election would take place on February 8, Zardari replied that ‘they would happen’.
He added that elections would take place, whether today, tomorrow or day after.
Asked if the date could be moved around, Zardari said everything regarding elections was in the power of the Election Commission of Pakistan. He said that elections happened differently in areas formerly called FATA and PATA. He added that the weather would not be good there at the time of elections and the area was also facing war. Zardari said that getting justice in democracy was a matter of ‘patience’. He added that Benazir Bhutto had said that she had avenged her father when she took oath of office for the first time.
He added that God had graced him with the opportunity of filing the reference on Bhutto’s murder and the matter had been picked up by the fourth chief justice.
Asked if there would be accountability based on the reference, Zardari said that most people involved in the incident had passed away but symbolic justice could be done.
He praised the chief justice for taking up the matter saying it was indicative of the judge’s democratic approach.
When asked about his statement about Imran Khan not being able to survive jail, Zardari said that jail’s only start asking questions after the first two years.
He added that he had not received any facilities in prison despite being president and Khan was getting home cooked food and exercise machines despite being a ‘fake’ prime minister.
Zardari said ‘judges’ were facilitating Khan, adding that he was brought to court in an armoured vehicle while Khan was brought in a Mercedes.
He also denied that Khan was facing jail trials in an unprecedented way adding that he had been tried in jails in all his cases.
The former president said that he was unable to tell people about his suffering in jail because there was no social media at the time. He added that he did not have ‘foreign support and funding’ to run campaigns either.
Zardari said there had been a ‘mindset’ to keep Khan in power till 2035 but it had now ended. He added that Khan would have ‘sold’ Pakistan if he was allowed to stay in power. He added that Khan was a ‘puppet’ of a power which wanted to disintegrate Pakistan.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023
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