Lyari is still PPP’s fort, says Zardari

KARACHI: Speaking at the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) rally, Co-Chairman Asif Ali Zardari on Sunday said Lyari was still his party’s fort and vowed to serve its populace accordingly.

The rally has been organised at a time when Lyari witnesses a lull in violence following the Rangers-led Karachi operation launched to rid the city of criminals and terrorists.



Billboards carrying pictures of PPP founding leader Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, Benazir Bhutto and Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari were placed at at Kakri Ground, the venue of the rally.

The organisers had set up a 20-feet-high stage with two exclusive enclosures for media coverage. The PPP workers started thronging the venue late Sunday afternoon.

Besides Zardari, Sindh Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah, Najmi Alam and other leaders of the PPP also delivered their speeches on the occasion.

In his speech this evening, Zardari thanked the Lyariites for electing him as an MNA once, adding that two of his children were also born in the neighbourhood.

He said that he would hold the party flag till the arrival of his son Bilawal and daughter Aseefa in the country’s political scene.

"Sometimes Bilawal Sneakes into Lyari without my knowledge," said Zardari.

It may be mentioned that the PPP co-chairman had recently termed party’s patron-in-chief Bilawal Bhutto Zardari ‘immature’ to take its responsibility for now.

The former president said that Lyari was a ‘prosperous’ neighbourhood once. However, he added that dictators and ‘ruins of Musharraf’ turned it into one of the most violent areas of the port city.

He also announced development funds worth Rs1 billion for Lyari that would help build an engineering college, a low-cost housing scheme and fresh water schemes in the locality.

Zardari vowed to remove the chronic issue of water shortage from the area in mere three months.

He termed today's rally as the beginning of the party's journey for the 2018 general elections in the country.

In an apparent reference to PTI Chairman Imran Khan, he said ‘Kaptaan’ (captain) was worried for one election while “we have been robbed of our mandates on every occasion”.

Zardari ruled out the widely accepted perception that the PPP has been reduced to Sindh province and vowed to strengthen the party for the 2018 general elections.

He said the time had arrived to pass on the political leadership to the youth, adding that he would help Chief Minister Sindh Syed Qaim Ali Shah in governing the province in the meantime.

Commenting on India’s criticism at Chinese investment in Pakistan, the PPP co-chairman vowed not to let recently inaugurated Chinese schemes in the country derailed at any cost.

He went on to say that he warns India to reconsider its policies and do not infuriate Kashmiris.