NAWABSHAH: “Those who think that my presence in the National Assembly will make no difference will soon realise they were sadly mistaken; they will see a big difference.” This was stated by Pakistan Peoples Party co-chairman and former head of state Asif Ali Zardari while addressing a session of elected representatives of the party at Zardari House here on Friday.

Several party leaders, including MNAs Faryal Talpur, Syed Ghu­lam Mustafa Shah, Syed Asghar Ali Shah and Shazia Marri and MPA Ziaul Hassan Lanjar were also present.

After sharing views of party colleagues on various political and development issues, Mr Zardari said that when it came to most mega projects, be it the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor or the Gwadar port, it was the PPP that initiated massive development activities in the country. He said CPEC was initially meant to benefit Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa alone but one could see that it was now Punjab that was benefiting from it the most.

Commenting on PTI chief Imran Khan’s struggle against the government, the PPP co-chairman said some people had told him [Mr Zardari] that a cricketer was struggling hard [to bring down the government] in the country. “I told them that let him run and exhaust himself ... he will ultimately stop when he will get tired,” said Mr Zardari.

‘Rivals biting nails over Zardari’s decision’

Adviser to Sindh Chief Minister on Information Maula Bux Chandio has said that Mr Zardari’s decision to enter parliament has left his opponents biting their nails, adds our staff reporter from Karachi.

Mr Chandio told journalists at Bil­a­wal House on Friday the mounting frustration and nervousness among the ranks of party rivals over the decision was tantamount to their acceptance of psychological defeat to Mr Zardari. Now, those who had been raising questions over Mr Zar­dari’s future in his absence should better fall silent, he said. He said that Imran Khan was not interested in resolving peoples’ problems. And now by opposing the Panama bill, he was in fact supporting the present government’s stance, he said.

Published in Dawn, December 31st, 2016