PPP and government will continue talking: Zardari

Staff Report

LAHORE: Pakistan Peoples Party’s leader Asif Ali Zardari on Sunday admitted that the Pakistan People’s Party and the establishment had been in contact for the last eight years and said that the PPP would carry on with talks aimed at restoring democracy.

Zardari, accompanied by around three dozen PPP leaders, addressed a crowded press conference at Bilawal House.

Zardari, who had threatened to launch agitation against the government, softened his stand at the press conference, saying: “We don’t want to take to the streets, though we can do it and the government also knows about it. We will hold dialogue with the establishment and at the same time motivate people and intellectuals,” said Mr Zardari.

He said the way the government had treated PPP activists indicated a conspiracy against the federation. “Our army is patriotic and does not want to break the country but a couple of insane people are damaging the federation by staying in power,” he said. He said that the PPP’s only demand was free and fair elections in 2005.

He said the PPP wanted dialogue with power brokers, the army, intellectuals, lawyers and all stakeholders in order to protect people and the country. He went on to say that only the PPP and Benazir Bhutto could save the country from harm. “The government is too gutless to run the country. Its only agenda is to make money,” he said.

Condemning the arrest of party workers, he said that the PPP would raise the issue at every forum including court and parliament. He said the next parliament would determine President Musharraf’s role in the country’s affairs.

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