This handout picture released by the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz shows Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari (L) talking. PHOTO: AFP /File
President Asif Ali Zardari is scheduled to arrive in Lahore on February 9 for a three-day visit, where he will offer condolences to Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) chief Nawaz Sharif on the death of his brother Abbas Sharif.
He will also inaugurate his new office-cum-residence in a gated community in Lahore. According to reports, Zardari will conduct PPP meetings in the bomb-proof mansion at the residence. Later, his son, PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari will assume charge of the residence and will commence his political meetings there.
The sprawling mansion covers 128 kanals (16 acres) and has 13-feet high bombproof boundary walls. Three layers of security have been established, as have two helipads and a seating arrangement for around 10,000 people inside the house. The vast lawn will accommodate around 30,000 people. The construction has taken nine months.
It is pertinent to mention that Nawaz is scheduled to visit Sindh on February 8, where he will address a public gathering in Kandiaro, a town in Naushehro Feroz district.
MNA Syed Zafar Ali Shah, who recently defected from the PPP to join the PML-N, has arranged the big public gathering in honour of Nawaz.
Following his return from Sindh, the PML-N leader will meet Zardari at his Raiwind residence.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 7th, 2013.
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@wth I heard the compound is in bahria town funded by Mr.Riaz
Any where else in the world, a sitting president accepting the gift of a mansion from a private tycoon would mean a huge uproar and would result in his instantaneous political down fall. But not in Pakistan, here the president is making an official trip to the city on tax payers expense to inaugurate his gifted mansion without giving a damn about any moral implications!
And we have become so immune to news of corruption that rather than highlighting it, ET is focusing the headline and news on his visit to the Sharif Brothers!
So, who paid for the construction of the house??