Former president and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Co-chairperson Asif Ali Zardari has said that Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan is following the footsteps of former military ruler General (r) Pervez Musharraf, adding that the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government has ruined national consensus.
Speaking to PPP leader Qamar Zaman Kaira on the coronavirus crisis and the evolving political situation in the country, Zardari criticised the government, saying that it wants to curtail constitutional and financial powers of provinces.
“This government is fighting the opposition instead of fighting coronavirus,” he said.
Referring to PPP’s past tenure, the former president stated that when he came to power in 2008, the country was a victim of terrorism and division. “We conducted the Swat operation through national consensus and brought peace [throughout the country],” the former president asserted.
The PPP and the PTI have been trading barbs over the past few weeks. On Tuesday, after being criticised for the second consecutive day by Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi in the Parliament House, PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari had demanded that the foreign minister either withdraw his statement against PPP or resign from his position.
The minister had spoken at length about PPP’s style of governance and the participation of the province in national decision-making, saying that the former ruling party was focused on only provincial politics rather than thinking of the entire country.
