Only PPP has what it takes to manage current affairs: Zardari

PPP Co-chairman and former president Asif Ali Zardari on Monday launched a broadside against the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf over the economic hardships faced by the country, saying that “repeated experiments” had plunged the country into “turmoil”.
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Speaking to the media in Nawabshah, the Pakistan Peoples Party leader claimed that only his party had what it took to run and manage the country’s affairs. “The PPP has successfully dealt with every challenge thrown at it in the past … and we are still ready [to run the country’s affairs]."
Zardari said, “First let go of these rulers, then talk to us, then we will show you how to run this country.”

The former president said that there was a crisis of sugar and flour during former military ruler Pervez Musharraf’s government as well and sugar and flour were being imported. “We ended the crisis within a year of coming to power and started exporting these items,” he maintained.

“Whoever comes against the people's power, whether he is Sardar or Mir or Pir, everyone should remember that the people's vote is ours and the time to come belongs to the PPP.

"The dollar has crossed Rs180 and is moving towards Rs200," he observed. "There was no need to carry out devaluation of the currency. There was no need of it at all."

He said the individuals responsible for the devaluation are illiterate. "The ones who have come from abroad are conducting the devaluation in a third world country." He lamented that the incumbent federal government had ended up doubling the foreign loans.

Also read: Zardari admits PPP's own setbacks cost it Punjab elections

However, he believed that the PPP could steer the nation out of the financial meltdown, contending that if the incumbent set up continued, the government would remain at a loss about coping with the situation. "They just want to eat their meals, make money and sleep."

He reiterated that he had warned from “day one” that if the “National Accountability Bureau is unleashed over the politicians and the bureaucracy”, the incumbent government would “find it difficult to function”. He claimed that many federal secretaries remain reluctant about giving routine approvals due to fear of NAB.

Zardari, however, noted that NAB had now relaxed its approach. "But the damage has already been done."

The PPP's co-chairman said when he visited some areas of Nawabshah on Sunday, he was worried that the people might throw eggs at him because he returned to his hometown after around 18 months. He told his supporters that the reason for the delayed visit was his imprisonment which had lasted for some time.

Remembering the former prime ministers and PPP leaders Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and Benazir Bhutto, Zardari said both the leaders continued to fight for the rights of the people from their graves.
"Mohtarma (Benazir) talks to me. You think I may be joking, but the fact is that she lives with me in my thoughts. I always think how Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto and Mohtarma would have dealt with the issues while figuring out what needs to be done."