RECORDER REPORT

ISLAMABAD: President Pakistan People’s Party Parliamentarians (PPP-P) Asif Ali Zardari has said that the people running the federal government do not have the political realization, and have further aggravated the crises, which the country is faced with.

He said this, while talking on phone to President PPP Punjab and General Secretary PPP Punjab Qamar Zaman Kaira and Chaudhry Manzoor respectively on Tuesday.

“The current rulers neither believe in the Constitution nor any federal principle. I had apologised to Balochistan despite the fact that I had not done anything bad to them personally because I thought that it was my responsibility to bring Balochistan back in the mainstream. If Akhtar Mengal has some demands then we should consider them. Akhtar Mengal is in the Parliament. The PPP is ready to play its role in resolving Balochistan’s issues. We have only one condition that the Baloch should come back in the mainstream politics of the country and give up armed struggle,” Asif Ali Zardari said.

“The state needs to be more careful now than before regarding Balochistan. God forbid, if Akbar Bugti like incident is repeated, then it will be very difficult to control the situation,” he said. Asif Ali Zardari said that a year ago he had warned of the locust problem but the people in federal government did not understand.

He said that despite two floods during the PPP government (2008-2013), we did not let any food shortage happen in the country. Today food security is under real threat, and the loss due to locust would last for many years to come, he said.

He discussed the current situation in the country and party issues in detail with the PPP Punjab leaders.

He asked jiyalas in Punjab to be united as “good times are not far”.

Talking to PPP Punjab leaders, he said that he does not fear the cases initiated against him whether old or new as he has faced them in courts before and will also face them now.

The PPP-P president warned the government of dangerous situation, if it did not provide relief to the people.

He said that the PPP supported labourers, growers and poor people of Pakistan during 2008 global economic crisis and brought the economy of the country back to progress with the support of labourers and growers. The president PPP-P said that the federal government was weakening the provinces instead of strengthening them.

He said that the PPP united the federation with the help of strong provinces by 18th amendment, and the NFC further strengthened the federation.