Arrest will only make me ‘more popular’: Zardari

Ex-president says Imran, Sharif came to power by making ‘deal’

HYDERABAD: Pakistan Peoples Party Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari has said a plan is being hatched to put him behind bars.

"These days, there are rumours that I will be arrested but that won't be something new for me as I have seen many barracks in the past," said Zardari speaking at a reception in Benazirabad district on Tuesday.

"If I am arrested, I will become even more popular," said the PPP leader, adding the National Accountability Bureau has instilled unnecessary fear among ministers and bureaucrats who are now hesitant to work. The reluctance, he added, is consequently affecting the common people.


"Since the martyrdom of Shaheed Benazir Bhutto, I believe that a leader should himself suffer instead of bringing misery to the common man,” said the former president referring to being incarcerated in the past.  


He further claimed he is being scared to stop giving employment to people but will not stop no matter what the consequences may be. "If this is a sin, I will keep committing it." The PPP co-chairman also reiterated criticism over the economic performance of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf's government and compared success of the PTI-government's currency swap agreements to his party's.



"The rulers are boasting they have made an impressive achievement by securing currency swap agreement with China while we have already inked such agreements with six countries including  China, Turkey, Iran and Sri Lanka,” said Zardari boasting about the PPP government’s past tenure.

Zardari said, “Politics is an art and all political leaders are not adept in that art,” claiming that Imran Khan and Nawaz Sharif came to power by making a deal [with the establishment] but they don’t know how to govern a country."

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Commenting on Sindh's agricultural economy, Zardari said business has lost its charm. "The people owning a few hundred acres of land are either selling their lands or they have been indebted."