Zardari, Sharif lash out at govt

Islamabad: The Opposition All Parties Conference (APC) hosted by Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) chief Bilawal Bhutto Zardari was held here Sunday.

Former President Asif Ali Zardari, in his welcome address said that they will sent government packing to restore democracy and save the country. Foundation of a country is laid on democracy, after which prosperity follows, he added.

Asif Zardari also thanked PML-N supremo for accepting PPP’s invitation and said that Benazir Bhutto signed charter of democracy with Nawaz Sharif and both parties cooperated to remove Musharraf from office and pass 18th amendment.

He further said that 18th amendment is a wall around the constitution and because of this amendment, no one can look at the constitution with evil intensions.

“We have never seen such stringent censorship across the country,” Zardari stated. “This reflects on the weakness of the government. It is impossible to curtail the emerging voices of the media.

The ex-president also especially welcomed PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz, saying he was “fully aware of the hardships you’ve been through and respect that”.

“My solidarity is with Maryam Nawaz Sharif; she is like my daughters, she has suffered a lot in her struggle, and we stand by her.

“My message to Pakistani people is that we have not united together to save democracy in the country and with the press, we will win through this,” he added.

Nawaz Sharif then addressed participants via video link from London, marking his political comeback after more than a year. He started by thanking Zardari, saying he would not forget the love with which he spoke to him a day earlier.

Nawaz Sharif said that Pakistan has become a laboratory of “such experiments” and every child knows that no prime minister has been allowed to complete five years in power. It’s not even taken into account that the democratic structure of the country is demolished due to such tactics and the public loses faith in the system.

The PML-N supremo said that democracy is in danger and he agrees with Maulana Fazlur Rehman that we need to make this conference purposeful or people will be disappointed. “If we don’t do it (take a step) today, when will we?” asked Nawaz Sharif.

Speaking about the 2018 elections, he said the primary reason for the current problems were those people who “hijacked the people’s mandate by putting inexperienced people in power”.

He also repeated opposition’s allegation that the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), with the connivance of PTI, was carrying out only “selective accountability”.