BADIN - Former president and Pakistan People’s Party co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari has once again said that the government of Prime Minister Imran Khan will not complete its five-year term because of their imprudent policies.

Addressing a public gathering in Badin district on Thursday, the PPP leader said the prime minister was not from the general public so he would not return to them.

He said that no one accepts Imran Khan’s election and he won’t be able to complete his tenure, adding that his party will ‘take care of them’. “Now that you are a selected prime minister, learn something [form experience],” he advised Khan.

The PPP leader claimed that certain elements were waging a war against him due to the 18th amendment, which he termed as a conspiracy against the public. He said he was being targeted because he was an obstacle in the way of their ulterior motives.

“The conspiracies are being hatched against us and against the common man,” Zardari said, adding that people of Sindh were more politically aware and empowered to face such challenge and foil conspiracies.

The lands [of the people] have already been occupied by these ‘forces’ and now they are trying to grab oil, gas and other resources, he said. There was huge difference between the common people and those [powerful vested interests] that are part of the establishment, he added.

“Don’t push us too much against the wall as it could lead to people being out of control,” Zardari warned the unnamed powers.

The former president said that they had run the government smoothly and strengthened the economy. He said it was he who had openly sought apology from people of Balochistan for the atrocities against them despite the stiff opposition from different quarters.

The PPP co-chairman said that the present “accidental and selective prime minister” neither had the will to govern the country nor was in a position to come to power again. He said neither Imran nor his party would ever get true public mandate.

He said that people of Punjab and Balochistan know and those of KPK even know this better that how PTI got the fake mandate and how they [PTI leaders] were imposed on them to make their life harder.

Zardari said all the people were sick of these selected rulers who have ruined the economy of the country. “The 50 percent hike in prices of commodities had broken the back of the people of the country,” he added.

However, the told the party workers not to be afraid of the bad economic situation. He said if the chief minister extended his support to him, he would be in a position to give jobs to the people of Sindh.

The public gathering was arranged in Rahuki on the occasion of 32nd death anniversary of peasant leader, Mohammad Fazil Rahu. Zardari claimed that he reached Rahuki via road and saw unprecedented development work on his way to the venue.

The PPP leader said that he managed to convince Sindh Agriculture Minister Muhammad Ismail Rahu, who is the elder son of slain peasant leader Fazil Rahu, to join the party with the efforts of local trader Kaka Kishanchand Adwani.

He said that he did so because the thoughts of Fazil Rahu, Benazir Bhutto, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and his father late Hakim Ali Zardari were the same as they all fought for the rights of the common people.

Addressing on the occasion, Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah said that PTI leaders wanting to topple his government lacked the common sense and political acumen. He alleged that federal government had stopped releasing the due share of water to Sindh causing drought-like conditions in the whole province.

He demanded the prime minister hold CCI [Council of Common Interests] meeting to resolve the issues of water and gas share of provinces. He announced to establish an agriculture university campus in Badin district and lining of all small canals of the district within a short span of time.

Sindh Minister Ismail Rahu said in his address that his father lived, struggled and laid down his life for the downtrodden and underprivileged classes. He said Shaheed Fazal Rahu was assassinated (axed to death by one Mohammad Fazal Chang) in a deep conspiracy when he was leading the people of Sindh from the front during the Movement for the Restoration of the Democracy (MRD) in 1987.

Mr Rahu said the legacy of General Zia was still there and certain powers were busy in conspiring against the democratic process in Sindh and other parts of the country. Mr Rahu said that those dreaming to topple the Sindh government were living in the fools’ paradise.

Nisar Ahmed Khuhro, PPP MNA, Mir Ghulam Ali Talpur, Mohammad Aslam Rahu, MPA, Taj Mohammad Mallah and others also spoke on the occasion.