Daily Times

A senior leader of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) on Wednesday was given assurance by the National Assembly speaker that the production order for PPP Co-Chairman Asif Ali Zardari would be issued by Friday. PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari had earlier expressed serious concern over the delay in issuance of the production order for the former president.

Zardari was arrested on June 10 after the Islamabad High Court rejected his pre-arrest bail application in the fake accounts case.

PPP sources said that Bilawal had chaired a consultation meeting in Islamabad on Wednesday and directed the party delegation, led by Raja Pervez Ashraf, to request National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser to implement the rules of the lower house of parliament and issue the production order for the party’s co-chairman.

“Following the top leadership’s directives, the delegation went to meet the NA speaker and waited outside his residence, but was unable to meet him,” Ashraf said.

However, he said, the speaker had assured the former opposition leader in the National Assembly, who was among the visiting group, on the phone that the production order would be issued by Friday. He expressed his gratitude to the speaker for responding positively.

Bilawal also advised PPP legislators to take active part in the budget debate and make their presence felt in parliament, sources said. “The details of ‘anti-people’ budget should be made public,” they quoted the party chairman as saying. On Tuesday, the former PPP premier-led delegation had also met the NA speaker and requested to issue the productions for Zardari.