ISLAMABAD: Expressing concern over the “deteriorating” economic conditions in the country, alleged failure of the government in handling the coronavirus situation and preventing the locust attack, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) co-chairman and former president Asif Ali Zardari has said that people want to get rid of the present government.

Mr Zardari, who has been ill and away from public view and media for months fuelling speculation, expressed these views during his telephonic conversation with PPP secretary general and former Senate chairman Nayyar Hussain Bokhari on Wednesday.

Talking to Dawn, Mr Bokhari said that he had in fact made the telephone call to the former president to inquire about his health, but he said Mr Zardari discussed with him the prevailing political and economic conditions in the country in the wake of the ongoing coronavirus crisis and the locust attack on crops.

The former Senate chairman said that during the conversation Mr Zardari told him that his health was “much better” than before and he thanked party leaders, activists and the whole nation for praying for him.

Mr Bokhari criticised the ongoing campaign on social media against Mr Zardari and refuted all reports stating that the former president was in poor health. He said Mr Zardari had been on medications for more than a decade as he had multiple health issues.

In response to a question as to why Mr Zardari had been away from the media, the former Senate chairman said it was perhaps because he had been living in near isolation and sheltering himself from the Covid-19 pandemic in the country.

According to Mr Bokhari, the former president is very much worried about the “already destroyed economy” of the country.

“Due to the extreme and unprecedented price-hike in the country, the people are fed up with the present government and want to get rid of it,” he quoted Mr Zardari as saying.

Mr Bokhari said the former president was also critical of the government’s handling of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Published in Dawn, May 28th, 2020