ISLAMABAD: Former president and Pakistan Peoples Party co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari has said that the then PPP government had become stronger following an extension given to then army chief Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani.

“Extension to...General Kayani stren­gthened me as well as the parliament,” he said during an interview to Geo News on Monday, part of which was broadcast on Sunday. In reply to a question about the extension to the current army chief, Mr Zardari chose to be non-committal, “It is the prerogative of the current government to give the extension or not.”

Asked about the PPP’s failure to maintain its voter support in the 2013 elections, he expressed doubts about the effectiveness of the country’s electoral system and remarked that “election 2013 was the ROs’ (returning officers) election”.

Regarding PPP chairperson Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari’s four demands and the party’s concerns over the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, he was quoted by a PPP statement as saying: “We urge the federal government to take action on our demands for the betterment of Pakistan.

PPP leader says he will return to Pakistan in next few weeks

“We made a footprint for economic stability by bringing China closer to Pakistan.”

When asked about the PPP’s strategy over the Panamagate case, Mr Zardari said: “Parliament is the right platform and democracy’s evolution should happen in the parliament and not in the Supreme Court.”

About Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf’s policy to deal with the controversy, he said: “Imran Khan took Panama Papers [leaks] investigation to the Supreme Court but what will happen if the court’s commission fails to deliver the desirable results? Imran wants to hit a six on every ball.”

In response to a question regarding his possible return to Pakistan, Mr Zardari, who has been living in London and Dubai since 2015, said: “I am not in exile but the circumstances made me take the backseat. I will be back in Pakistan in a couple of weeks. I was away from politics...because I wanted to give space to Bilawal... and other political leaders.”

The PPP leader left the country last year after a speech in which he had lashed out at the military establishment for allegedly overstepping its domain.

Published in Dawn, November 22nd, 2016