As Pakistan continues to expel unregistered Afghan refugees and the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf struggles for political space in the lead-up to the general election, former President Asif Ali Zardari has made startling claims about an alleged PTI plan involving Afghan nationals living in Pakistan.

He said enabled by the PTI many of Afghans had made it to voter rolls after getting Pakistani ID cards.

Zardari made the claims on Aaj News show ‘Faisla Aap Ka’ with Asma Shirazi, saying that Imran Khan talked about Afghans because he had issued them identity cards in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and had had their name registered on voter rolls.

He added that the Afghan voters cast ballots in the 2018 elections as well.

When asked if he would approach the Election Commission of Pakistan over the issue, Zardari said he believed the ECP was looking into the matter.

However, he said the matter of polls was a ‘larger’ debate.

Without naming Imran Khan, Zardari added that the ‘ladla’ had been launched by General (r) Hameed Gul but had gone back and forth as different projects were brought to power.

Referring to Imran Khan’s first wife, Zardari said that overseas Pakistanis were influenced by ‘other nations’ as well.

He added that Jemima was ‘paying’ vloggers outside the country who were claiming Imran will win the upcoming elections.

Zardari said that Imran had been running a ‘cult democracy’ instead of a parliamentary democracy. He added that he tried to get all parties to sign a charter of democracy.

When asked why Bilawal Bhutto Zardari was identifying Nawaz as the ‘ladla’, Zardari denied that his son had named anyone. He went on to say that it was Imran Khan who was still the ‘favourite’ of the powers that be.

He added that PTI’s candidates were only lawyers who were fighting Imran Khan’s cases. He also said that all of PTI’s leaders were nurtured in the PPP’s nursery.

PPP’s prime minister?

Zardari shared an ambitious plan to bring water to balochistan from Tajkistan. When asked if he would be in power to implement it, he said there could be others in power with the same vision.

He went on to say that at the very least, PPP could be be able to get its own prime minister in office.

When asked about Nawaz’s prospect for a fourth term, he said that the matter would be seen when the time came.

He added that even Shehbaz Sharif did not have the numbers to become prime ministers and claimed to have brought multiple parties including MQM onboard for the coalition.

When asked if Bilawal would be candidate for the PM slot, Zardari said time would tell. He added that Bilawal ‘could’ be a candidate.

The former president said it was to be seen if he (Zardari) would be the candidate for top position or Bilawal or someone else from the party. He said even Khursheed Shah said that he too could be a candidate.

He added that Khursheed Shah had obtained Bilawal’s signature to make Shehbaz leader of the opposition and he (zardari) could not do anything about it.

Zardari claimed that just days before April 2022 no trust vote, Imran Khan offered him half a tenure of government but he did not accept as he had committed to the opposition parties for a vote of no-confidence.

He said that Khan did not even believe in basic norms and gestures of democracy.

‘Democratic fight’

Zardari said that the democratic fight and the process of ‘recycling’ must go on.

“Establishment, god forgive them, for they know not,” Zardari said. He added that going forward, he intended to educate the establishment as well.

He said that establishment and other political stakeholders had to be taken forward together.

Zardari said that democracy had ‘a lot’ of strength and what is needed is to control it, understand it and use it.

Elections

When asked if the election would take place on February 8, Zardari replied that election would happen.

He added that elections would take place, whether today, tomorrow or day after.

Asked if the date could be moved around, Zardari said everything regarding elections was in the power of the Election Commission of Pakistan.

He said that elections happened differently in areas formerly called FATA and PATA. He added that the weather would not be good there at the time of elections and the area was also facing war.

Bhutto reference

Zardari said that getting justice in democracy was a matter of ‘patience’. He added that Benazir Bhutto had said that she had avenged her father when she took oath of office for the first time.

He added that God had graced him with the opportunity of filing the reference on Bhutto’s murder and the matter had been picked up by the fourth chief justice.

Asked if there would be accountability based on the reference, Zardari said that most people involved in the incident had passed away but symbolic justice could be done.

He praised the chief justice for taking up the matter saying it was indicative of the judge’s democratic approach.

Imran’s future

When asked about his statement about Imran Khan not being able to survive jail, Zardari suggested that Khan was to languish in jail for several years. ‘Jails only start asking questions after the first two years.’

He added that he had not received any facilities in prison and Khan was getting home cooked food and exercise machines despite being a ‘fake’ prime minister.

Zardari said ‘judges’ were facilitating Khan, adding that he was brought to court in an armoured vehicle while Khan was brought in a mercedes.

He also denied that Khan was facing jail trials in an unprecedented way adding that he had been tried in jails in all his cases.

The former president said that he was unable to tell people about his suffering in jail because there was no social media at the time. He added that he did not have ‘foreign support and funding’ to run campaigns either.

Zardari said there had been a ‘mindset’ to keep Khan in power till 2035 but it had now ended.

He added that Khan would have ‘sold’ Pakistan if he was allowed to stay in power. He added that Khan was a ‘puppet’ of a power which wanted to disintegrate Pakistan.

Zardari said that he did not believe Khan was popular but the perception of his popularity was a product of people feeling ‘sympathy’ for him because he was in jail.