President Asif Ali Zardari. Photo: File
LAHORE:
Hitting out at the jailed PTI founder for the third time in four days, President Asif Ali Zardari said that if Imran Khan was not prepared to serve time in prison, he should not have entered politics as “serving time requires honour.”
Speaking at a gathering in Vehari on Tuesday, Zardari, without naming Imran Khan, said he should have pursued charity work or opened cricket clubs and stuck to one profession if he was not ready to face the rigors of prison.
The president was apparently referring to the PTI’s and opposition parties’ recent efforts to secure Imran’s transfer to a hospital and release, given his deteriorating right eye vision. Imran has been detained at Adiala Jail since September 2023.
Referring to his own incarceration, Zardari said that when he was released, his son Bilawal — whom he had left as a little boy — had grown taller than him. “Immediately after securing my release from prison, I suffered a heart attack,” he said.
Most of the questions during the interaction revolved around the PTI, which is in the hot waters since ouster of Imran Khan’s government in April 2022.
Zardari claimed that Imran Khan had not been running the government, but rather the then DG ISI, Faiz [Hameed], who, he alleged, ran the country.
“What would he know about running the country?” he remarked. When asked about ties between the PPP and the PML-N, Zardari said the alliance was formed out of concern for the country, suggesting that otherwise an aggressive ideology would have prevailed.
Criticizing the PTI-led government in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Zardari said it had done nothing for the province. He remarked that one individual only knew how to deliver daily sermons.
Referring indirectly to Imran Khan’s sons raising concerns over denied meetings, he said that after the country had been free from his “sermons” for the past year and a half, his sons had started complaining about not being allowed to meet him. He added that Imran Khan’s tenure had pushed the country decades back.
On Kashmir, the president reiterated that it was an integral part of Pakistan, calling it the country’s jugular vein, and declared, “No Kashmir, no Pakistan.” He said the country was blessed in every way, but lacked continuity.
Two PPP leaders, when asked about the president’s recent stance — which appears to diverge from the party’s longstanding position of championing human rights — said he was seeking to improve the party’s future prospects by aligning with the power corridors.
“The PPP has a political future to safeguard, which necessitates such positions,” one office-bearer said, adding that the party has moved from resistance and reconciliation to compromise given the current situation.
Several leaders were contacted for comment but were unavailable. Zardari, who arrived in Lahore after a tour of Punjab, also chaired a meeting of the PPP’s local and provincial leadership at Bilawal House and discussed internal party affairs.
Divisional and district presidents of the party, members of the PPP Central Punjab Executive Committee, and newly appointed office-bearers of the Central Punjab districts attended the meeting
In his remarks, the president emphasized the importance of political dialogue and unity. He said democratic engagement is the strongest instrument for justice, national cohesion and progress.
