LAHORE: President Asif Ali Zardari arrived in Lahore on Wednesday to address a parliamentary meeting of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Punjab chapter, reported Express News. But no officials of the Punjab government arrived at the airport to greet him.
The president's visit is planned to be for three days, however, sources say that the trip might be extended for the fourth day as well.
The parliamentary meeting was scheduled to be held earlier but was postponed due to a meeting between the president and a US state department official at the Governor House, Lahore. The parliamentary meeting will now be held at 08:30pm.
Sources say that the president will leave for India directly from Lahore to visit a shrine of a Sufi saint in Ajmer, but no one from the presidency has confirmed it.
COMMENTS (23)
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Bread and circus.
Reception by senior offficials should be discontinued and the time spent on serving the public. We have now seen that the lack of a receiving libe has not dimmed Mr Zardari's smile and can conclude that he suffered no harm. I suggest a row of TV SCREENS shoing officers hard at work be positioned to form a reception line, so the visiting dignitary gets a live vew of our servants at work. Do you think such a positive step will ever be taken?
@Zaikam: Thanks for keeping the discussion civil. We hated democracy once before and we got the menace of Zia and fundamentalism. Even if your argument is accepted it was Zia who made ZAB and PPP the victim and they are winning since then. There is corruption in every society as humans are greedy by nature. With time the elected govt always improves with the new blood and new faces, free media and judiciary but the menace of fundamentalism and terror unleashed on the civilians can only get worse thanks to Zia. Most people would rate terrorism and extermism as the worst evil that cannot be put back in the bottle. The fact that you and I are writing freely says a lot about changing times and freedom. Regards, Mirza
when a member of the Indian Congress party becomes the president, he/she shuns all affiliation with the party. In true democracy, the president should not be affiliated with the political party. No wonder democracy practised in Pak is more autocratic.
@Indian Kashmiri:
Black indian why are you so interested in pakistan´s internal matters.
Being Punjabi, I am ashamed of what Punjab Government did.However, it does not reflect the people of Punjab who respect and honor their elders and guests.
Mirza: In Pakistan let us make it opposite. No dictatorship was as worse as this democracy. Life had never been this difficult for a common man. Never in history this many institutions of the country were ruined at any single time. I seriously think now that the only thing which went wrong with the dictators was that they had to mix some politicians to their regime and that ruined them otherwise whatever we have now is blessing of dictators. Islamabad, Tarbela, Mangla, HEC and what not. Yeah they did blunders too like miltancy but the menace of corruption the democracies of these incompetent political leaders of ours is unique.
Who is paying for what is a private visit to Lahore to chair party ?
It may be a possibility Zardari and Nawaz Sharif held a secret meeting in Lahore and can discuss how to tackle the Imran Khan's tsunami in the next elections.
@asifzafar: hold your horses now....given how the Punjabi elites (civil and military) have treated the smaller provinces, you should at least have the stomach to take factual criticism.
Doesn't matter if N did not follow the protocol, they have done it in the past also when BB was the PM and Nawaz was CM. Goes to show their small heart....What else can one say!
@asif zafar:
blaming punjabis for everything is the easiest thing because punjabis never stand up for their community,punjabis today are too embarassed to speak their own language,so it becomes very easy for every one else to insult and put the blame for everything on them.it they took more pride in being punjabis then they wouldn't be such an easy target for everyone in the media.
He is not visiting Punjab as the President of the country he is their for PPP meeting in a capacity as the head of PPP. Why should he be officially welcomed.
Well done PML N!
@Ali us Sajjad: With all due respect, rather than getting sentimental on not providing as you say "RESPECTS" to the president, you should understand that it speaks volumes of what people and his fellow-politicians think of him as a president. I am not defending the Punjab government or anyone else for this matter, it is just that he should understand that people of the same, Islamic Republic of Pakistan, are fed up of him.
Why should one expect the leader of PPP be welcomed by the Government of Punjab, after all he is there to chair his parliamentary party meeting. To deserve the right kind of protocol he should first doff his ploitical cap.
In Pakistan some show no respect to constitution and federation and that is why the country disintegrated within 25 years. We have not learned to respect the symbol of federation and if we continue to target these institutions then the federation would continue to suffer and ultimately disintegrate. The worst form of democracy is better than the best dictatorship and from A. Q. Khan to the detained justices are the living proof of that who were thrown in jail by the dictator and released by the elected govt. This is the first time in the history of Paksitan that there are no political opponents in jail and no cases are fabricated against them. We are not perfect but we are making some progress and the next elected govt would be better and more stable.
After all the time abusing punjab and punjabis,why would he even expect to be welcomed? ppp members on the talkshows start abusing and blaming punjab whenever they are caught in any corruption scandal.blaming punjabis and insulting them publicly is the easiest thing to do in the pakistani media.
and zardari welcomed convicted criminals,shareef and nawaz back and handed them the government of Punjab
Mr. Zardari may be whatever one may say or think , But like it or not, he is the President of Islamic Republic of Pakistan. The childish and immature behaviour of the Punjab govt speaks volumes for people who want to "Champion" democracy.
Our politicians need to grow up first before they talk of Championing democracy. They need to rise above personal likes and disllkes, they need to show maturity and act as responsible politicians.
If the CM along with his whole team and full protocal had received the President, his stature as a leader of Punjab would have grown in the eyes of the people.
Leaders shouting for Democracy and claiming to be saviours of democracy, need to show respect and tolerence for their fellow politicians......and especially for the President of our country.
Why should he get an official welcome party? he was openly inciting racist hatred against lahore and has repeatedly stoked racial tensions against punjabis by blaming them again and again.in the speeches by his party subordinates lahore is slandered freely.
is that a news??