ISLAMABAD - Former president Asif Ali Zardari is set to mount a full-frontal assault on Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in the days to come to put pressure on him to step down after the Panama Papers case verdict carried some scathing observations about his “honesty and integrity”, The Nation has learnt.
The Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Co-chairman has already launched a mass-contact campaign after the Supreme Court’s 3-2 split verdict in the Panama leaks case.
Over the weekend, Zardari addressed a rally in Jhang where Faisal Saleh Hayat and Khalid Ahmed Khan Kharal rejoined the party. He will speak at a rally in Mardan today (April 24) and in Malakand the next day (April 25). This will be Zardari’s first public appearance in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. Khwaja Muhammad Khan Hoti and Ikramullah Shahid, among other political activists, are likely to join the PPP during Zardari’s two-day visit to the province.
In his Jhang speech, Zardari had threatened to throw out Sharif like former military ruler Pervez Musharraf – who quit under impeachment pressure in 2008.
A close aide to the PPP leader told The Nation that Zardari will keep up the anti-Sharif tempo to exert more pressure on the premier. “The rallies in Mardan and Malakand will also be packed with demands for PM’s resignations. There will be frontal attacks now,” he said.
Zardari’s close aide said that in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa ‘go Imran go’ slogans will also be raised along with ‘go Nawaz go’ chanting. “The nation doesn’t need both of them (Nawaz and Imran). Only the PPP can revive hopes. People are rejoining the PPP which will bring results in the next general elections,” he claimed.
On Sunday, Zardari also held a meeting here with former Interior Minister Rehman Malik to discuss the post-Panama leaks’ verdict situation.
“Apart from the Panama leaks issue, the issue of PPP overseas reorganisation was also discussed. Rehman Malik was asked to visit a few countries soon in this regard,” said a PPP leader.
Earlier in the day, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf chief Imran Khan alleged that Sharif and Zardari had been looting the country for 30 years. Speaking to media persons in Dadu, he, however, said Zardari was not a hypocrite like Sharif.
Meanwhile, the PPP said that the government was in utter despair after the Panama leaks’ verdict. “They don’t know what to do. They are in utter despair. The PM should resign. There is no other way,” PPP General Secretary Syed Nayyar Hussain Bokhari said at a news conference here with party’s Information Secretary Chaudhry Manzoor Ahmed, former deputy speaker Faisal Karim Kundi and others.
He said that the JIT could not investigate the Panama leaks case fairly when Sharif remains the prime minister. “He should quit to pave way for a transparent investigation,” he said.
Bokhari said that Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leaders have started abusing rivals after they were exposed in the top court’s decision. “The PM should stop his workers from hurling abuses at us. This will not be helpful for anyone. We will not be able to control the PPP workers for long. The best option for them is to stop,” he warned.
Bokhari said that the PML-N ministers were trying to justify the corruption of their leaders through foul language. “They should speak with logic rather than resorting to swearing. The ministers will get a matching reply in the future,” he said.
The PPP leader said that the PML-N leaders should read the Supreme Court judgement carefully to understand the ‘real verdict.’
Chaudhry Manzoor said that the government had given a Rs 250 billion shock to the nation on Neelum-Jhelum hydropower project. “They are still crying they are not guilty. They should prove their innocence. Two judges have already declared Nawaz Sharif a corrupt man,” he said.
Ahmed said that the PPP was astonished at the celebrations of the PML-N. “We can’t understand why they are celebrating. They have been declared corrupt,” he maintained.
Faisal Kundi said Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan holds news conferences’ daily but could not see the corruption of his own leader.
He criticised PTI leader Jehangir Tarin for calling the PPP a ‘sold out’ party. “Jehangir Tarin is himself a sold out person. He has sold himself to Imran Khan,” he retorted. Separately, PPP’s member National Assembly Ramesh Lal asked why the government was filing a review petition if the court verdict in Panama case was in favour of the PML-N.
In a statement issued here, Lal said that Nawaz should not trust the bunch of ministers who had been proved to be cowards in the past and had left him alone when he needed them.
He said that Nawaz himself was anything but brave as he had complained about mosquitoes in his cell when put in jail by Pervez Musharraf.
Lal said that now his ‘spoiled child’ Abid Sher Ali – State Minister for Water and Power - will become an approver against Nawaz Sharif.
“Every sane person in Pakistan is laughing at the ministers who are distributing sweets after the court verdict,” Lal said.