KARACHI: President Asif Ali Zardari on Wednesday accused ‘a handful of political actors’ of trying to destabilise the elected government which, he said, had the support of the establishment, political parties and even the opposition.

‘Neither the establishment nor political parties and the opposition want to derail the political system,’ he told a party rally here in his first video address from the President’s House.

The Karachi chapter of the People’s Party had organised the ‘Pakistan Khappey Rally’ to mark the party’s 43rd foundation day at the People’s Chowrangi near the mausoleum of the Quaid-i-Azam.

President Zardari, who is also PPP’s Co-Chairperson, said that all conspiracies against the party would be foiled. ‘We are not afraid of conspiracies … We will fight those who are hatching them.’ 

Bracketing everyone who criticises the party and its policies as ‘political actors’, he said that the PPP was not afraid of their countdowns.

‘We are here because we have a mandate … We will foil all attempts of political actors,’ he added amid slogans of ‘Jeay Zardari’ and ‘Ek Zardari Sab Pe Bhari’ (one Zardari bests everyone else).

He said that the presence of ‘Bhuttoism’ in the President’s House was evoking fear among opponents. ‘It was the same President’s House that had earlier pronounced that the late Benazir Bhutto was a security risk. Today it echoes with slogans of ‘Jeay Bhutto’ and the credit goes to the sacrifices of its leaders and workers.’ 

The president’s defiant and to some extent confrontationist stance appears to be a calculated response to a concerted campaign which his supporters say is aimed at isolating him and instigating certain quarters to act against him.

His claim that he enjoyed the backing of the establishment and even the opposition was a clear message to people he said were conspiring against him. He said that the PPP remained committed to defending democracy and it would complete its term.

‘It is the right of the PPP government to complete its term,’ he said, adding that ‘political actors’ should wait for their turn till the next election.

He criticised a private TV channel and said that the PPP was the party of the common man who had given it a mandate. ‘We are here because we have got a mandate.’

He said Sindh had played a key role in the creation of Pakistan and the PPP had rendered sacrifices for saving the country. ‘We have to save Pakistan; this is our faith and politics,’ he added.

The president said that the PPP believed in taking all political parties along. ‘We want Mian Nawaz Sharif’s party and other smaller parties to become stronger so that democracy is strengthened,’ he added.

He said the PPP enjoyed popularity across the country. ‘The PPP won a huge mandate in Gilgit-Baltistan which is a proof of its popularity’.

He said it was the PPP which called upon Yousuf Raza Gilani to become prime minister in the name of Benazir Bhutto. ‘It was also the PPP which called upon me to become president in the name of Benazir Bhutto,’ he said.

Describing terrorism and militancy as a cancer, President Zardari said that the world now acknowledged that Pakistan was seriously waging a struggle to eliminate terrorists. “Now they don’t tell us to ‘do more’. Now, we ask them to ‘do more’,” he added.

Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah, federal minister Syed Khurshid Shah, Sindh Home Minister Zulfiqar Mirza, Prof N.D. Khan, PPP Sindh chief Taj Haider, party’s city chief Syed Najmi Alam and other leaders also addressed the rally.