LAHORE: Former president Asif Ali Zardari has asked PPP activists to do their utmost for winning the by-election in National Assembly constituency NA-120. Speaking to party workers at the Bilawal House here in Bahria Town on Tuesday, Mr Zardari said that NA-120 by-election was not just the test of Faisal Mir rather of the party and all its workers.

A meeting participant said quoting Mr Zardari as saying that the party sided with the Sharifs during the 2014 Islamabad sit-in only to save the democracy and not the then government.

He said Nawaz Sharif could not complete his five-year tenure only because of his wrong policies, but added that the worst democracy was better than dictatorships.

Referring to the recent threatening statement of US President Donald Trump, the former president lamented that Mr Nawaz did not appoint any lobbyist in Washington for advancing the cause of Islamabad only because the deposed prime minister wished to appease his Indian counterpart, Narindra Modi.

Saying that Mr Trump said what Mr Nawaz had wished for, he warned that the US president must not take Pakistan as Afghanistan.

Mr Bilawal also asked the party activists to work hard for the win of PPP candidate Faisal Mir saying success in NA-120 could infuse a new spirit in the party in Punjab.

Meanwhile, the PPP claims that important political figures and elders of various biradaris have announced joining the party after meeting with former president Asif Ali Zardari and party chairperson Bilawal Bhutto Zardari here on Tuesday.

The new-entrants to the party included ex-MPA from Layyah Yasir Samra, UCs chairmen Inaamul Haq and Qaiser Irshad, former National Assembly ticket-holder Alamdar Hussain Shah, ex-tehsil nazim and district naib nazim Ghulam Muhammad Samra, and others.

Former prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, ex-governor Makhdoom Ahmed Mahmood were also present on the occasion.

Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah also called on Mr Zardari here on Tuesday.

Published in Dawn, August 23rd, 2017