ISLAMABAD: PPP leader Asif Zardari on Monday launched a scathing attack on Imran Khan, saying the former premier supports Afghans because he had allegedly got them included in the voter lists.

The former president also hinted at the possibility of a “little delay” in the elections, but said his party had no problem with it.

Afghan citizens were registered as voters in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in the past to facilitate PTI, Mr Zardari alleged during an interview on Aaj TV.

“He [Imran Khan] supports Afghans because he had made fake lists [of voters] and they [Afghans] had been declared as Pakistani citizens,” he told anchorperson Asma Shirazi.

Says ‘a little delay’ in polls is possible, but of no great consequence; asserts he can ‘also be a candidate for PM’

Responding to a question, the PPP leader disclosed that Election Commission was taking care of this issue, adding that he had already directed his party to take up the matter with the electoral watchdog.

He ridiculed Imran Khan for allegedly supporting the opening of the offices of the banned Taliban and Lashkar Jhangvi in the country and said the PTI leader was doing it to get political advantage.

In response to a query,

he dispelled the impression that PTI was still popular in the country, adding the “ground realities are different from perceptions.”

“There is sympathy as far as he [Imran] is in jail, and not popularity,” Mr Zardari pointed out. He said PTI only enjoys support of some lawyers and had no supporters to manage polling stations even in one constituency.

The ex-president claimed that it was a former director general of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) who was behind the project of launching a cricketer in the politics.

He alleged that Mr Khan also had support from foreign lobbies, adding that his ex-wife was still behind him and she had been propagating the PTI founder as a popular leader through bloggers.

Mr Zardari harshly criticised Imran Khan and even called him an “illiterate” person. He claimed that after submission of the no-confidence resolution against Mr Khan in 2022, the PTI through a common friend had approached him and offered him to share half of the PTI government’s remaining tenure, which he refused, terming the move “too late”.

Delay in polls

In response to a question, Mr Zardari hinted at the possibility of a little delay in the Feb 8 elections, but said “elections will certainly be held”.

“It makes no difference if the elections are delayed for another eight to 10 days, but not more than that,” said Mr Zardari, when asked about the PPP’s possible reaction if the polls were delayed. He, however, said that only the ECP had the constitutional authority to fix the election date.

When his attention was drawn to a statement of JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman about the severe weather conditions in some parts of the country, Mr Zardari said, besides bad weather, the erstwhile Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) were also facing security issues.

PM candidate

Answering a question, Mr Zardari said he was also a candidate for the office of the prime minister with his son Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari.

“Bilawal can be a candidate and I can be a candidate too … and even Khurshid Shah presents himself as one of the contenders,” the PPP leader said when pointedly asked “if Bilawal is not a party candidate for the PM office”.

Mr Zardari claimed that PPP would win “significant” number of seats in the National Assembly in the upcoming general elections and would be able to play a decisive role in the election of the prime minister.

He, however, said that the decision would be made when the time came.

“In Karachi, we are the largest party. We have won the election of the mayor which is not a small thing,” said Mr Zardari.

The PPP leader once again called for a consensus on charter of economy, stating that after the elections, all parties should sit together and discuss the plan for the economic betterment of the country.

Published in Dawn, December 12th, 2023