Non-state actors out to occupy country: Zardari

Zardari says no change will come in the country in any undemocratic manner.

President Asif Ali Zardari has said non-state actors are out to occupy the country by weakening the democratic process, but said that no change will come in the country in any undemocratic manner.

“Non state actors want to occupy the country by the weakening democratic process. If these elements succeed in their designs it will be detrimental to the whole region.” President Zardari said.

President Zardari said that former president Pervez Musharraf had every right to take part in politics, but should only do so in a democratic manner. The PPP government was removed twice in the past on the basis of charges, but these allegations had not been proved so far, the president said. Political actors and political orphans who are behind the conspiracies against the PPP form a long list, he added.

Zardari also said that he did not agree that Mian Nawaz Sharif had parted ways with his party. “He is still our coalition partner in Punjab,” Zardari said. “Nawaz Sharif had democratic thinking and he had never talked of any change through undemocratic ways,” he remarked. However, he maintained that the PPP and PML-N were two separate parties and they had their own manifestoes. They were at liberty to make political statements, he said.

The president dispelled the impression that the PPP was facing credibility problems.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 8^th, 2010.