Former president and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Co-Chairman Asif Ali Zardari on Tuesday dispelled the notion that Pakistan spends a significant amount on military expenditures, saying that such claims were mere propaganda, a private TV channel reported.
“The military’s expenditures are not that significant… undue propaganda is done over it,” he said while addressing the electoral candidates from Central Punjab at Bilawal House, Lahore. The former president said that there is a solution for everything in politics. “Those who are not skilled in politics don’t have solutions; that is why they don’t allow things to happen.” Urging the workers to be patient in tough times, Zardari said that soon it will bear fruit that will alleviate all the sorrows and pains. “They cannot make election happen in two months… elections will take place when I decide.”
“The PPP and I have always struggled. The workers should be patient because the fruit of patience is something you cannot even imagine. All sorrows and pains will fade away.”
He mentioned that during his 14 years in prison, he studied numerous books on the economy. “I proposed solutions during my era, which led to our foreign exchange reserves reaching $24 billion. Insha Allah, I will manage the country’s economy and raise the foreign exchange reserves to $100 billion.”
As the country braces for election later in the year, the former president has been active in Pakistan’s largest province by population which often decide which party will form the government at the Centre.
After the PTI lost its status as the largest party in the province, several of its leaders parted ways with it and joined PPP – which at one point in time was considered a force to be reckoned with in Punjab.
On Thursday, Zardari held meetings with political leaders at the Bilawal House in Lahore. He met PPP Secretary General Nayyar Bukhari, Information Secretary Faisal Karim Kundi, and party candidate from NA-69 Rana Mahmood Ashraf.
Zardari also met with PPP Central Punjab President Rana Farooq Saeed, Faisal Mir, Nadeem Afzal Chan, Abdul Qadir Shaheen and other party leaders. In these meetings, the situation of Punjab in the upcoming elections was discussed. Zardari was informed by the party leaders about those who had recently joined the PPP.
