RAWALPINDI: Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari along with his sister Aseefa Bhutto Zardari on Tuesday visited Adiala jail and met his father and former president Asif Ali Zardari.

Accompanied by Mr Zardari’s counsel Sardar Latif Khosa and party spokesman Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar, they inquired about his health after doctors said the former president was suffering from cardiac diseases and his three arteries were blocked.

Aseefa expressed concerns over the health of her father saying he was imprisoned in isolation.

Party sources told Dawn that Mr Bilawal and his sister remained with their father for more than two hours. Though Mr Zardari did not complain about his illness, his poor health condition was visible to his children.

They said Mr Zardari appreciated Bilawal for arranging a workers convention in Gari Khuda Bux and gave him suggestions on party matters as well as national issues and the planned Azadi march of JUI chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman.

Later, Bilawal and Aseefa went back to Islamabad without interacting with the media. However, Latif Khosa and Mustafa Khokhar informed media persons about some details of the meeting.

Mr Khokhar said the PTI government had failed to deliver and its incompetency had been exposed at the national and international level.

He said despite court orders President Zardari had not been provided adequate facilities and hurdles were deliberately created whenever anyone visited him.

“A meeting regarding the party’s strategy will take place tomorrow in presence of senior leadership. Chairman Bilawal has given the PTI government a deadline till December as it has proved to be incompetent,” he said.

Mr Khosa said the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) failed to prove any allegation against his client even 68 days after his arrest.

He said the accountability courts were daily handed bundles of documents but the investigators could not prove any allegation against the former president.

He said he asked Mr Zardari to submit a bail application but the latter refused saying he was not in a hurry to get bail.

“The former president said the government can do what it wants but he would not bow before anyone,” he said.

Published in Dawn, September 18th, 2019