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PPP co-chair Asif Ali Zardari said on Wednesday that elections in the country would be held after the incumbent coalition government implements electoral reforms and amends the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) laws.
“We have to change laws and improve them and then go to elections. Whether it takes 3 or 4 months, we have to work on implementation of policies and improving the electoral process,” Zardari said at a press conference in Karachi.
He said he had consulted Mian Nawaz Sharif and “made him understand that as soon as our reforms and low-hanging fruit targets are complete [we can go to polls]”.
Elaborating on the issues facing the economy, the former president said oil was expensive which was why the country would hold a dialogue. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had good relations with Saudi Arabia’s ruling family, he noted
Zardari said the country would keep facing difficulties until the International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme was brought back on track.
He said he had a lot of “out-of-the-box thought processes”, including about the State Life Insurance Corporation. “It is an investment of more than Rs100 billion. Give 26 per cent of it to a business house with a good track record and float 26pc [of its shares] in the market. You will get at least Rs8 to 10bn.”
In addition, all electricity power lines should be privatised.
Zardari said he wanted businesses to consult with the PPP, which would provide out-of-the-box solutions.
He claimed that overseas Pakistanis had been “led astray” by the previous government and they had no idea about the prevailing heat and inflation in the country.
The army was “apolitical” for the first time, he said, asking whether the situation warranted saluting Chief of Army Staff Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa or “fighting” with him.
Talking about the no-confidence vote that led to the ouster of former prime minister Imran Khan, Zardari said it was “good to know that the army can remain neutral”. He expressed the hope that the army would continue to be “apolitical” and any problems that arose could be solved by national representatives.