Asif Zardari vows to strengthen democracy

“The party has serious reservations about the May 2013 general elections" quoted the former president.

ISLAMABAD:

Former president Asif Ali Zardari vowed on Wednesday that his party will not become part of political build-up that would lead to destabilising the democratic structure of the country. 

“The party has serious reservations about the May 2013 general elections and believes that invisible hands were at play to ensure pre-determined results, but it will not join any agitation or movement to upset the democratic structure”, he was quoted as saying by his spokesperson Senator Farhatulalh while addressing a public meeting in lower Dir in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwah.

The event was organised to commemorate the first martyrdom anniversary of party activists, killed in an attack during an election campaign last year.

Zardari said the militants’ attacks last year on political rallies ahead of the elections were aimed at derailing the campaign of PPP and to force its voters to stay indoors. “This was part of a sinister plan by invisible elements to engineer the poll results according to their scheme”, party’s media office quoted Zardari as saying.

Despite obvious rigging the party will not come on the roads to protest against rigged elections, he added.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 8^th, 2014.