AMJAD ALI SHAH

PESHAWAR: Pakistan Peoples Party Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari slammed political rivals Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Imran Khan in the party’s Malakand rally on Tuesday.

Addressing a gathering of PPP supporters and workers, Zardari criticized that Nawaz Sharif was a student of former military dictator Gen Zia-ul-Haq and was continuing with his policies till that day.

He went on to say that the country’s leadership was deeply involved in all businesses from poultry to energy business. He said all of Pakistan’s resources were controlled by one family, promising to bring back the “looted” money back to the country.

Taking a jibe at Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf chief Imran Khan, he said, “one politician calls himself Pakhtun but he is a fake Pakhtun,” adding the PPP raised its flag first in Swat.

He added that Swat’s people had made a lot of sacrifices for the area’s peace. “It was Bibi Shaheed’s dream to restore peace in Swat,” he said.

The PPP Co-chairman taking the credit for the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor said his government had introduced the project for Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP).

The former president said PPP would form its government in all four provinces including KP. He claimed that PPP had provided the people of FATA with the NFC award which was being misused currently.

“We gave you (the people) the NFC award, which unfortunately is being misused today,” he said. “We gave the Pakhtuns their separate identity,” added Zardari.

Zardari slammed Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, stating that he was stealing food from the bellies of the masses, and said it was a tragedy that the corrupt had taken hold of the CPEC project. “I initiated the CPEC project for you and for the people of Balochistan,” said Zardari.

Zardari flayed Nawaz in his speech, stating that the Prime Minister was a student of Zia-ul-Haq and had conducted the same politics. He said that a nation only progressed when its people, instead of its rulers, became wealthy.

During his speech, Zardari also slammed PTI chief Imran Khan and referred to him as ‘Jaali Khan (fake Khan)’. He chanted the slogans of ‘Go Imran Go’.