Daily Times

Former president Asif Zardari Saturday said that ‘establishment’ has never given good treatment to those who have worked for country’s development. “I am speaking in Urdu so that the blind, dumb and deaf in Islamabad can hear me,” the Pakistan People’s Party supremo told a rally here. “The more they hinder us, the more will we advance,” he asserted, and accused the ‘establishment’ of creating hurdles in Sindh. “We are not being allowed to work,” he claimed, adding that he is not afraid of anything and will face all the challenges. “They just want to create drama but rest assured it won’t affect the party’s voter,” he said, adding, “We want you to stay but what else we can do if you are up to ending the political institutions.”

Zardari said he had served the nation for five years. He said all the conspiracies to topple down his government had failed and he completed his tenure. “I created harmony among the provinces and allocated the budget by consensus,” he said, demanding that the provinces should be given their due rights as it is beneficial for the democracy and unity in the country.

The former president said that there was no need for the authorities to put him on the exit control list (ECL) as he had already submitted his passport at the time of applying for bail. “I have to be buried at the Garhi Khuda Baksh and I am answerable to Bhutto and Benazir after death,” he said.

The former president said there will be a day when Sindh will have its own gas company like the province made its own coal company and made people of Pakistan as their partners. “How can I make those people understand something who are up to ending political institutions. What can I do if you don’t have any senses?” he said while taking a jibe without naming any political party or state institution.

Published in Daily Times, December 30^th 2018.