Pakistan Peoples Party Co-Chairman Asif Ali Zardari has condemned the arrest of Speaker Sindh Assembly Agha Siraj Durrani and said his party would face the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) and would not conduct any deal for a 'safe passage'. "We will face the cases of NAB. If we have to go to jail, we will go. You know jail is my second home. Bilawal Bhutto is my and Benazir Bhutto's son, so why do you scare him? Scare those who have never seen this," Zardari expressed these views while addressing a news conference here on Wednesday.
Answering a question, he said, "A Speaker [of an assembly] is an autonomous figure and you are challenging democracy when you arrest a speaker. I think that until a "inquiry is concluded, nobody should be arrested". Zardari questioned why Sindh Assembly Speaker Agha Siraj Durrani was arrested at Islamabad instead of Karachi. On the recent Supreme Court's decision dismissing review petitions in the fake accounts cases, Zardari said his party always accepted court's decisions and wants to strengthen institutions.
Answering a question, he said that amendments should be made in the NAB laws and his party is ready to lend support to a legislation in this regard. Answering another question about the 'Million March', as announced by Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (Fazl) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman, Zardari said that PPP would participate in that protest.
He said, "The backseat driver does not understand politics which is why this issue of Pulwama attack is getting bigger." Zardari said, "Pakistan has been isolated in the world for many years and after the PTI government, we've become more isolated. But I assure the nation if India commits an act of aggression then we will all stand united. PPP will stand by our brothers of Pak Army."
Zardari said that he handled the situation through diplomatic channel after the Mumbai attacks in India in 2008 but regretted that the "current immature government does not understand all this." He said that the countries are being run by 'international diplomacy'. Zardari also spoke of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's recent visit to Pakistan. He said, "The Saudi friend who came, we welcomed his visit, we welcomed him but due to mishandling of the government, they did not invite us, Nawaz Sharif or Shahbaz Sharif."
He added that a minister had tweeted that opposition leaders were unfit to meet the crown prince due to corruption cases. Zardari said he would have gone to meet the Saudi crown prince had he been invited. He recalled that he had met the Chinese president under similar political tension during PTI's 126-day sit-in. "The then Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif invited me, so I went," he said.
Zardari criticised the performance of the PTI government and said, "We were trying to give them some time so they might learn and fix the issues of the country. But if you want to run the government like this then we would launch a protest." He said that the PTI government has raised the prices of gas, petroleum products and electricity. "In summer, the people would be forced to pay bills of electricity by selling their cars," he added.
He said, "I still think today if there were proper free and fair elections and proper representation, there would have been better chances for success in Pakistan and a better-run parliament to resolve issues." Answering another question, the former president said that in the past, PPP government always tried to evolve political consensus and even called joint sessions of the Parliament to discus national issues.
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