Zardari sees attacks on him an attempt to revoke 18th amendment

PPP co-chairman says actors are worse than the 'dictatorial act'

Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari said on Saturday that he was being attacked from all directions in order to force him to agree to repeal the 18th constitutional amendment that empowers provinces.

Addressing a press conference in Lahore, the former president said during the general elections, “I tried to figure out why ‘they’ were targeting me from all directions. In Sindh, they tried their best to to stop us from coming into power. But they failed by the grace of Allah.”

He added that he has now realised that this was all about revoking 18th amendment that empowers provinces. “But no province including Punjab would agree to do that let alone Sindh,” he remarked.



“They are arresting my friends. There is a group in Sindh, which I supported in the past, is facing the music these days. They claimed that it laundered money through fake accounts,” said the PPP supremo referring to ongoing accountability process initiated by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).

Zardari said Punjab benefitted from 18th amendment more than any other province. Balochistan and K-P also needed autonomy as much as Sindh, he said.

In response to a question, the former president said he did not even ask for NRO from Gen Musharraf and then why would he do the same from Prime Minister Imran Khan.



“The actors are worse than the act. They are bad actors. Actors of dictatorial act are doing a poor job. They will reap what they are sowing,” he remarked in an apparent reference to the incumbent rule in the country.

“Neither Nawaz [Sharif] needs me nor do I. But Maulana Fazlur Rehman is trying for an APC [all parties conference],” the PPP co-chairman said when asked about opposition’s anti-government movement.

The statement comes the same day Namar Majeed, the son of Omni Group owner Anwar Majeed, was arrested by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) in relation with the ongoing fake bank accounts case.



Zardari, sister Faryal Talpur, former Pakistan Stock Exchange chairman Hussain Lawai and Summit Bank Senior Vice-President Taha Raza are among those being investigated by a seven-member JIT led by FIA Additional Director General Najaf Mirza for allegedly facilitating 29 ‘fake’ accounts in Summit Bank, Sindh Bank and United Bank Limited.

According to the FIR registered against Lawai and others, billions of rupees were deposited into the fake accounts and subsequently transferred to beneficiaries, including the company owned by Zardari and his sister, the Zardari Group. The Zardari Group received Rs15 million of the laundered money, according to the FIR.

In December 2016, the Sindh Rangers had conducted raids at the Karachi office of the Omni Group of Companies and the residence of its owner, Anwar Majeed and confiscated records which reportedly contained clues of the money laundering chain.

‘No danger to 18th amendment’

Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry, meanwhile, hit back at PPP supremo’s allegations, saying the constitutional amendment was in no danger from anyone.

“There is no danger to Islam, democracy and 18th amendment … the only thing which is facing any threat is the leadership of NRO alliance … that’s the reason they can’t see anything but darkness everywhere,” he remarked in a tweet.

نہ اسلام خطرے میں ہیے، نہ جمہوریت کو کوئ خطرہ ہے نہ ہی اٹھارویں ترمیم کو کوئ خطرہ ہے، خطرے میں NRO Alliance کی لیڈر شپ ہے ... ان کو اس لئے ہر طرف اندھیرا دکھ رہا ہے۔

— Ch Fawad Hussain (@fawadchaudhry) October 27, 2018

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