LAHORE: Former president Asif Ali Zardari has said the opposition is exercising restraint and not coming out in the open against the government due to the critical situation on the borders.

“We can do politicking very well, but are quiet because the country is passing through a critical juncture,” he told a group of party leaders, who called on him at Bilawal House, here on Monday. The delegation comprised Punjab leaders Qamar Zaman Kaira, Hassan Murtaza and others.

Mr Zardari, who was in town to attend the wedding ceremony of former Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Zaka Ashraf’s daughter, claimed that the national situation was not conducive to power politics; had the situation been different there were multiple options to push the government into trouble waters.

Confident that the political scene in Punjab would change soon, he directed the party’s provincial leadership to enhance contact with the masses. He said he too would start a mass contact drive from his south Punjab tour to be undertaken soon.

The former president was quoted as saying that the incumbent government was usurping rights of provinces as Sindh and Balochistan were being robbed of their financial share and that opposition members were not being allocated development funds in Punjab either.

Meanwhile, Mr Kaira warned in a separate statement that the Indian government could carry out some misadventure to satisfy the ruling party’s vote bank.

He said that the opposition parties had created an atmosphere of unity and harmony through their own efforts and Prime Minister Imran Khan must not spoil the environment.

Published in Dawn, March 5th, 2019