Zardari says PDM united to send govt home

In an apparent attempt to bridge the rift between the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) parties, former president Asif Ali Zardari said the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and the PDM will send the “failed and incompetent” government home by all means.

In a statement issued by PPP leader Chaudhry Manzoor on Sunday, the former president said that the next few months were “very important for the future of the country’s politics”.

According to the PPP co-chairman, the PDM is united and would use all means to send the government home. “These selected rulers will fall with their own weight and they just need a last push,” he added.

Zardari said the government will have to go home as its “inexperience and ineptness might plunge the country into a bigger crisis”.

He further criticised the government for its inability to handle the coronavirus crisis, saying the PTI government would neither procure coronavirus vaccine nor spend anything on the public.

The PPP government had increased the country’s exports from Rs19 billion to Rs26bn in 2008 despite global economic recession and its revenues had also doubled, he said, adding that the government also increased the salaries of the government employees by 125 per cent.

On Saturday, PPP Chairperson Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari had said that the opposition should bring a no-trust vote against Prime Minister Imran Khan to send his government home. His remarks had prompted a strong response from the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), with its leader Ahsan Iqbal asking the PPP chairman to show the numbers.

The response had given rise to speculations of a rift between the PPP and other PDM parties.

Chaudhry Manzoor was quoted by Express Tribune saying that the PPP would use all available options to send the government “home”. He said that PPP hasn’t ruled out mass resignations and the long march, adding that a final decision will be taken with consensus.

He also denied reports of a rift between the PDM parties, saying the difference of opinion shouldn’t be misconstrued. “The Senate elections will expose fissures in the government, which is when the option of no-confidence motion can bear fruit,” he was quoted as saying.

Meanwhile, PML-N Secretary General Ahsan Iqbal welcomed Zardari’s statement, as reported by the newspaper. “If PPP has a surprise up its sleeves regarding the no-confidence motion then it should bring it on the table,” he said, reiterating that all PDM decisions are consensual.