LAHORE -  PPP chief Asif Ali Zardari yesterday demanded that Sharif family should be arrested forthwith and put behind the bars for their involvement in the corruption cases.

“Accountability of Sharif family should be done on the pattern followed in case of the PPP leaders,” he said while talking to party men here at the Bilawal House. Ghulam Farid Kathia, Qayyum Jatoi, Malik Hakmeen Khan, Nadeem Afzal Chan, Shafqat Cheema, Dr Amir Shehzad, and Zaki Ch had a meeting with Asif Zardari to discuss political situation in the country. 

Zardari noted that NAB was giving VIP treatment to the Sharif family by not arresting them in connection with their trial in the corruption cases.

“In our case, we were arrested and put in the jails first and then cases were constituted against us. They (Sharifs) have been granted bails instantly whereas PPP men got bails after two and half years. We will not accept accountability of Sharifs if it is not done on equality basis,” he observed.

Zardari said that cases against Sharifs had been constituted on orders of the Supreme Court and still they had been set free by the Accountability Court.

Calling him a godfather of corruption, the PPP chief revealed that Nawaz Sharif was sending him what he called “secret messages” of reconciliation while sitting in London. “But I have rejected all offers of reconciliation,” he said, adding that Nawaz was not the type of person to be trusted again and again.

He said Nawaz Sharif had conveniently forgotten the sort of accountability the PPP leaders had faced in the 1990s.

He (Nawaz) also seemed to have forgotten the kind of victimisation done to PPP leaders who were put in jail during his last tenure by implicating them in fake cases, he added.

PPP leader also asked the people to read how the Sicilian mafia would operate. “This mafia would not only indulge in power game, it would also do so many other crimes”, he said, adding he suspected that Nawaz Sharif and his companions may also be involved in such wrongdoings.

He further stated that Nawaz and Shehbaz were trying to mislead the people through their contradictory statements.

“Both know each others’ secrets regarding their misdeeds. The Mughal Emperor should know that people now wanted to get rid of him”, he remarked.

He lamented that though Nawaz Sharif was not a prime minister at the moment but still he was travelling in official calcavade of 40 vehicles with 3,000 police personnel performing protocol duties.

He alleged that Nawaz Sharif was receiving $4 million on each LNG ship arriving in Pakistan. He said Nawaz preferred his personal interests over the national interest by not adhering to Iran gas pipeline contract.

‘ROTI, KAPRA AUR MAKAN’ REMAINS PPP SLOGAN

Earlier Asif Zardari said that providing “Roti, Kapra aur Makan” has been the priority of PPP which has always strived to create job opportunities for the people.

Zardari said this while addressing the meeting of Manifesto Committee of the party at Bilawal House in Lahore on Friday.

It was attended by Syed Nayyar Hussain Bukhari, Senator Sherry Rehaman, Senator Salim Mandviwala, Mian Manzoor Wattoo, Ch Latif Akbar, Amjad Hussain, Dr Nafeesa Shah, Sabir Baloch, Akhundzada Chattan, Syed Naveed Qamar and Nisar Ahmed Khoro. They all presented their proposals before the committee.

The former president said that the vision of Quaid-e-Awam Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was the party’s manifesto as he gave the right to every Pakistani to hold a passport and through this measure today millions of Pakistanis are abroad working hard and sending remittances to Pakistan thus contributing to the national economy.

He said when Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto came into power, she provided employment to millions of youth and also reinstated those employees who had been dismissed from their services by dictatorship and anti-democratic forces. He said that these anti-democratic forces initiated references against Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto for providing jobs to Pakistani youth. “Whenever PPP comes to power it creates employment opportunities,” he said.

Zardari said that education, health and peace were the priorities of the party as it wanted to make Pakistan a welfare state according to the vision of Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto, a state where rule of law is supreme and people have equal opportunity to prosper.

CHAN RESIGNS AS GENERAL SECRETARY

Nadeem Afzal Chan has resigned as party’s general secretary for central Punjab. But he will not quit the party.

Talking to The Nation, Chan said he had resigned from the party office as he had no moral justification to cling to this party office after his brother Wasim Afzal Chan joined the PTI.

Nadeem Afzal has reportedly refused to take back his resignation despite insistence by the PPP chief.