ISLAMABAD   -    PPP Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari has said that the opposition parties are forming a joint strategy to send this government packing before November 2019.

Talking to journalists at Parliament House here on Monday, he said the government would weaken the Parliament by doing away with the law of production order.

“They will also suffer because of this action. Nawaz Sharif is unwell and should be shifted to his house,” he said.

Prime Minister Imran Khan, he claimed, did not allow the airing of his interview due to a scandal. He said that the future belongs to Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and Maryam Nawaz.

“Maryam is just like a daughter to me and I have been advising her in the past,” he said.

“I have not seen the video brought forward by Maryam Nawaz because I do not have access to TV or radio,” he said.

The PPP leadership continued to attend Justice Qayyum’s court despite knowing everything. “We were convicted but after that these convictions were quashed,” he said.

Zardari said that politicians have committed mistakes in the past but now they have learnt from them. PPP and Bilawal are a threat for this government. PML-N has a majority in the Senate, he added.

He predicted that the year 2020  will be a better year for Pakistan. “The government is taking loans from the Asian Development Bank, World Band and the IMF and these lenders may take over our embassies in the future,” he commented.

Maryam’s warning

Maryam Nawaz on Monday warned that she would go on a hunger strike if the government doesn’t allow her incarcerated father homemade meals.

Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif is currently serving seven-year imprisonment in the Al-Azizia Steel Mills case in Kot Lakhpat jail.

In a series of tweets Maryam said, “The fake government has imposed restrictions on homemade meals for Nawaz Sharif. The staff who took his food has been waiting outside the jail for the last five hours.

“Mian sahab has refused to eat prison food. If they (authorities) do not take back this restriction in the next 24 hours, then I will contact the court.

“If I don’t get help from the court, then I will sit outside Kot Lakhpat jail. Even if I have to go on a hunger strike, I will do it… I don’t trust these oppressors; they can mix anything in Mian sahab’s food”

The PML-N vice president said her warning should not be considered a mere threat as she would go through with it.

Later in the day, PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif also condemned the restriction on homemade food for his brother.

In a tweet, he said Nawaz is a heart patient and depriving him of homemade food is a grave oppression. He demanded the government to immediately ensure the provision of home-cooked meals to the PML-N leader.

The jail authorities reportedly imposed the restriction as per directions of the home department to serve the former premier food as per the jail menu.