BADIN - PPP Co-Chairman Asif Ali Zardari has said that ‘selected’ rulers who acutely lacked the political acumen and wisdom have miserably failed to deliver to the people of the country.
He said that he was not afraid of the cases that have been opened against him now as his reputation got amplified whenever he was sent to jail.
Zardari, who is also a former president of the country, was addressing a huge public gathering near Matli town on Sunday. The event was hosted by Badin District Council Chairman Jam Asghar Ali Holipoto.
He said government has been lodging several cases against him and other PPP leaders also but such cases could not influence their eminence in politics.
“I won’t get afraid even if they [opponents] register 50 more cases against me. I will face those boldly with [the help of] public support.”
Zardari said that the former Sindh Information Minister Sharjeel Memon contested the elections from jail and defeated a wealthy opponent with the huge margin in the last general elections. “This proved that our supporters are always there to support BB’s mission,” he added.
Zardari asserted that present rulers had no vision to run the affairs of the government. PPP was already aware that neither the present rulers nor the bureaucracy was capable of serving the people, he added.
But, he said, running the affairs of the government was not difficult for him since he had learnt this art from his slain spouse Shaheed Benazir Bhutto.
The PPP leader said he did not know how to play cricket so he did not venture to carry the bat or ball “but those who do not know to run the government have been brought in power”.
People liked ZA Bhutto and Shaheed Benazir Bhutto as they both were visionary personalities and they were still revered for their supreme sacrifices for Pakistan, he added.
Zardari said that he, his daughter Aseefa Bhutto and PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari were determined to accomplish mission of slain PPP chairperson Benazir Bhutto (BB) by working for the underprivileged class of the country.
He asked his critics and inimical forces to continue to blaming him for giving rights to people in KPK, Balochistan and Sindh and other backward areas and said that he was ready to pay the penalty even that of death for the schemes he and his government had undertaken.
“Frame as many cases against me as you like for the steps we had taken for the betterment of nation... The cases of goat thefts will not work now!”
He claimed that only PPP leadership knew the true needs of the people of different regions and vowed to continue fighting for the rights of the people and come into the power through the democratic process.
The PPP leader said the country has lost 50 billion dollars since the PTI government took charge, there were 90 billion dollars in national kitty before their coming into power.
And now, he said, the government under the leadership of Prime Minister Imran Khan was roaming the foreign countries with begging bowl in hand to collect Rs2 to 3 billion.
Zardari claimed that when PPP had formed government at centre he within a week had a sitting with the members of the stock exchange and ordered the finance ministry to improve the economy and control the price hiking. Their government did not impose any extra tax for the whole five years term, he further claimed.
He said that due to water crisis over 0.7 million acres of the fertile lands of Badin, Thatta and Sujawal districts of Sindh had been devoured by sea. The entire Sindh was facing the worst kind of water shortage primarily because of being a lower riparian, he alleged.
The PPP leader said that as part of their efforts to lessen the severity of water shortages in future, he had directed Sindh government to start lining of water canals and irrigation water channels.
Without mentioning the investigations being carried out in fake accounts case which involve sugar mills owned by Omni and Zardari groups, the PPP leader said that they were not being allowed to purchase the sugarcane from the poor farmers because of which the small farmers were in deep crisis.
Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah, MNA Mir Ghulam Ali Talpur, Provincial Minister Muhammad Ismail Rahu, Jam Asghar Halipoto and others also addressed the public gathering. Aseifa Bhutto Zardari, members of the Sindh cabinet, lawmakers and other party leaders were also present on the occasion.