Former president and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari on Friday alleged that former Prime Minister Imran Khan had wanted to stay in power till 2035 and was planning on doing so.
Speaking on Geo News’ programme “Capital Talk”, Zardari told Hamid Mir, “They had very different planning. They wanted him to stay in power till 2035. And to counter this move, we [Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM)] brought in the no-confidence motion against him [Khan].”
Recalling a conversation with the then Chief of Army Staff, General (retd) Qamar Javed Bajwa, the PPP leader said that he wanted the opposition to go for elections while he will convince Khan to resign. “But amidst this conversation, he kept giving us hints that he would impose martial law. Bajwa sahab said that he can impose martial law in five minutes,” revealed Zardari.
The PPP leader went on to say that it is easy to climb onto a lion’s back but getting off is very difficult. “We told Gen Bajwa to go ahead with it, you run the country and we will go and continue with agriculture, that’s when he backed off.”
Talking about general elections, Zardari said that they should be held at the same time across the country, as the federal government and Supreme Court are in a virtual standoff over holding the polls in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
“The problem is not that we are afraid of elections,” he said, adding that his party did not have an objection to the poll but its “timing”. The PPP leader maintained that his party had joined the National Assembly with just 14 seats in the past.
Slamming Khan, the PPP leader said that the political workers stage protests but they do not pick up weapons. He claimed that Khan was not a popular leader, saying that he paid the people.
The PPP leader revealed that he and PDM chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman had asked Bajwa not to seek resignation from Khan.
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