Peshawar: Following allegations of corruption, land-grabbing, smuggling of Iranian oil, extortion, etc by the paramilitary forces, Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari Tuesday declared a war on the military.
“Stop victimising us or we will tear you down brick by brick. We do not want to undermine your establishment. So be advised… You have been warned, you have been warned, you have been warned,” Zardari said while addressing the oath-taking ceremony of PPP Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) chapter’s office-bearers. He warned that he will “expose everything” if the alleged defamation campaign did not stop. He said that he wasn’t worried about power. “All I’m worried about is people and People’s Party”, he said.
Throwing down the gauntlet, the former president threatened the country’s military with dire consequences like “exposing” the corruption of former generals. “We know how to wage war. And only we know how to do it. Don’t get us started or we will lay the tainted faces of many (retired) revered military big guns bare,” he boomed. Zardari said the military generals’ tenures were no longer than a few years but political parties virtually last forever. “You stay in your offices for say three years, then you go home. On the contrary we are here to stay. We never retire,” said he again damning the army for allegedly persecuting his party.
Former strongman Pervez Musharraf also came in the line of Zardari’s indiscriminate fire. “I served five years of my life in the prisons, but the ‘brave commando’ (Musharraf) doesn’t have the heart to go to jail for as short as three months,” Zardari said, scoffing at the former military ruler. Zardari said that Pakistan People’s Party has the strength to shake everything in the country. “If we wish, not only Sindh, everything from Karachi to FATA will be blocked”, said Zardari. He added, “Some say that government could have been removed if PPP had tendered resignations along with Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)”.
Zardari warned against “character assassination” of his party and stated that if they started doing the same then no one would be spared including generals. Speaking to party workers and office bearers belonging to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and FATA, he stated that when ‘PPP moves it jolts all others’, adding that mid-term elections would have been held if his party put its weight behind Imran Khan’s PTI led protests against the government last year. “We are watching the political game, political moves and waiting for the right time to arrive, he added.
