ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Co-Chairman Asif Ali Zardari on Friday said that former PM Nawaz Sharif should make it clear whether he is loyal to Pakistan or ‘other forces’.
“PPP is loyal to Pakistan and its sole purpose is welfare of the country. But Nawaz should tell whose side he is on. Is he loyal to Pakistan or other forces? He has always played games and still continues to do so,” Zardari said while addressing a press conference in Islamabad.
Responding to Nawaz’s comments that the PPP co-chief approached him and “suggested legitimising Musharraf’s ‘second martial law’ (the November 3 emergency)”, Zardari said: “Why would I do so? Musharraf was not my leader.”
Zardari added that it was, in fact, the PPP who successfully removed the dictator since “it was extremely essential.”
Moreover, Zardari said that Nawaz is disheartened by daughter Maryam Nawaz’s appearances before the court, but he paid no heed to Benazir Bhutto when she was going through the same phase.
The PPP supremo added that the FATA merger was party founder Zulfiqar Bhutto and ex-PM Benazir Bhutto’s idea. He added that Benazir had taken the issue to court, while he, too, called a Jirga at president house during his tenure to ponder over the issue.
Zardari also said he did not name former judges for caretaker prime minister. “The names we have recommended include a businessman and another, a former foreign secretary.”