PESHAWAR: Pakistan People’s Party co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari on Wednesday opposed the ‘privatisation’ of the government’s health facilities and said his party would reverse the selloff after coming to power.

“The (PTI) government shouldn’t privatise hospitals as we will reverse such moves to the benefit of the people after forming the next government,” he told a news conference at the house of PPP provincial president Engineer Humayun Khan here at the end of his five-day visit.

Accompanied by senior party leaders Farhatullah Babar, Qaim Ali Shah, Qamar Zaman Kaira, Faisal Karim Kundi, Asma Alamgir, Rubina Khalid and Humayun Khan, Mr Zardari said the Pakistan Muslim League’s government in the centre had failed to take drastic steps for the strengthening of economy and easing of tensions on borders.

He said the PPP government had taken the initiative of cracking down on terrorists and made efforts for the speedy rehabilitation of the families displaced from tribal areas.

PPP co-chairman criticises govt over ‘weak’ economy, border tensions

The PPP co-chairman said for the first time, he spent five days in Peshawar to meet the activists of the party’s different wings and government employees to know about their problems.

He said he was ‘completely dissatisfied’ with the performance of both PTI and PML-N governments in KP and centre respectively.

Mr Zardari said after coming to power, his party would hold a judicial inquiry into the 2014 Army Public School Peshawar massacre to address the grievances of the people, whose children were brutally killed in the Taliban attack.

He praised Pakhtuns for showing him traditional hospitality, love and affection and said he would continue coming to the province.

The PPP co-chairman said the people of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had rendered matchless sacrifices for the country’s security and development.

He said ironically, the perpetrators and victims of terrorism were both Muslims.

Mr Zardari rejected the Rewaj Bill as a ‘lollypop’ for the people of Fata and said all the constitutional and legal rights enjoyed by the people living in other parts of the country should be given to tribesmen, too.

He said the Rewaj Bill went against democratic norms and human rights and therefore, it was unacceptable to his party.

The PPP c-chairman said he didn’t see ‘Naya Pakistan’ in KP as claimed by the ruling PTI and that both the federal and PTI governments had failed to check bad governance in their respective areas.

He said after coming to power, the PPP would give the maximum possible pay raise to the government employees.

“During the last government, we increased the salaries of the government employees by 150 per cent as we’re aware of the hardships of the people,” he said.

Mr Zardari said the people were troubled by the escalating inflation and poor economic conditions.

He said he along with PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari would lead the party’s campaign for 2018 elections in Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan, and his daughter, Aseefa Bhutto Zardari, and sister Faryal Talpur in Sindh.

Published in Dawn, May 18th, 2017