PPP-Parliamentarians President Asif Ali Zardari said that except for the parliament, “no one has this right to decide the destiny of people […] especially those who serve fixed tenure of only three years”.
Zardari, who was addressing a gathering in Karan Shoro village area of Hyderabad, also asked the ‘powers that be’ to “stop joking with Pakistan every day, as we have had enough”.
Alluding to Chief Justice Saqib Nisar, he said the top judge should be concerned about the 900,000 cases pending in the judicial system instead of “visiting other places and raising objections”.
He was referring to the chief justice’s recent visit to Thar and the latter’s criticism of the way the Sindh government was running its affairs.
Turning to another political nemesis, Zardari also stated that he wanted Musharraf to live and witness how people continue to express their love for Benazir Bhutto at Garhi Khuda Bux.
The slain politician’s death anniversary is later this month.
Trouble brewing?
This is not the first time that Zardari has lashed out at state institutions. In 2015, he had delivered a hard-hitting speech in which he lashed out at the military establishment ‘for overstepping its domain’.
The former president had said army chiefs come and go every three years but the political leadership was here to stay. “We know the country better and we know how to run its affairs,” he had stressed.
Zardari had warned the establishment to refrain from character assassination of political parties. “If you do not stop, I will come out with a list of generals [accused of wrongdoing] from the start of Pakistan’s creation,” he had said.
The former president had gone on to say he did not want to weaken the country’s institutions, but “they [establishment] should also not try to create hurdles for politicians.”
Zardari had promptly left the country and spent 18 months in self-imposed exile till the military leadership was passed to the current regime.
