Zardari will return to Pakistan on Dec 23, announces Bilawal

Former president's presence in the country would help implement the four demands really soon, says PPP chairman

Chairman Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has announced that Asif Ali Zardari will make his return to the country on December 23.

“Co-chairman PPP Asif Ali Zardari will return to Karachi on December 23,” Bilawal said while addressing a press conference in Karachi on Sunday. “We are hopeful that Zardari's return will help implement the four demands really soon,” he added.

Zardari went out of the country in June 2015, days after a surprising outburst, in which he said politicians were better suited to running the affairs of the country. “You are here for only three years,” he said in an apparent jab at the then army chief.

Will be in Pakistan 'within weeks': Zardari

The PPP wants the enactment of the Panama Papers Inquiries Bill, 2016; implementation on the all parties’ conference’s recommendations pertaining to the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor; a parliamentary committee for oversight of the National Action Plan and appointment of a full-time foreign minister.

“Politics is all about timing…I wanted Bilawal to come at the forefront for his political grooming,” Zardari had told Geo News last month. “He’s doing very well now, and you will see me in Pakistan very soon.”

Bilawal said doctors had permitted Zardari’s return to the country. “We all have a father and we always hope their health remains fine,” he said. “We are steering a strong opposition against Nawaz Sharif and we need the strategic skill of Zardari to overwhelm the Sharif government that despite a two-third majority, they will have to accept the four demands.”



Earlier during the day, Bilawal urged the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz to not make the mistake of taking him lightly. Responding to those who target him for being too young, Bilawal cheekily admitted he was a ‘kid’. “The kid of Shaheed Benazir Bhutto. “Be scared of me.”

About the party’s Karachi division president, Dr Asim Hussain, the PPP leader said, “We are being targeted and politically victimised. Dr Asim is the only president of a political party who is under custody; he is Nawaz Sharif’s and Chaudhry Nisar’s political prisoner”.

PML-N’s response

Meanwhile, State Minister for Information Maryam Aurangzeb said Bilawal should know that the Bhutto family was named in Panama Papers leaks and not Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's. It seems Bilawal’s political mentors are not his well-wishers, she added.