Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) supremo Asif Zardari on Monday revealed details of his tense relationship with former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, at a meeting with party leaders, a private TV channel reported.
“We used to think that Nawaz was very innocent, but he is far more cunning and opportunistic than we thought,” Zardari said. “We kept on agreeing over the network of democracy, constitution and civilian supremacy. While we were engaged in politics, Nawaz was busy in trading,” he said.
“Nawaz has sold us out on every occasion and we were duped by him at all times. I wanted to maintain social relations with Nawaz but he took advantage of my goodwill,” he said, according to the TV channel. “Nawaz will suffer now and I am not going to join hands with him anymore,” he added.
The former president said that Nawaz had encouraged him to fight the establishment but he himself shook hands with them. “When I announced to hold former president Pervez Musharraf accountable, Nawaz didn’t support me. We had supported Nawaz when he filed a treason case against Musharraf. Nawaz had assured us that we will not let Musharraf go. When I made the statement that Musharraf won’t be allowed to travel abroad, Nawaz sent him out of the country. It turned out that Nawaz had made a deal with Musharraf prior to taking me into confidence,” he said, according to the TV channel.
Commenting upon his ‘brick for brick’ speech, Zardari said he made the statement after being duped by Nawaz. He explained that Nawaz took advantage of the statement and tried to set the record straight with former army chief General (r) Raheel Sharif. He also ordered organisations such as National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to take action in Sindh, he claimed.
Published in Daily Times, May 1st 2018.
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