LAHORE:
The Popular Party of Pakistan (PPP), despite ruling out rumors that surround the elimination of President Asif Ali Zardari, seemed bewildered by the frequency with which this speculation reached the main media.
Some inside the party felt a hidden agenda behind the consecutive discussions about the president’s future. The last of these street rumors suggested that the president of the Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N), Nawaz Sharif, wanted to become the president of Pakistan.
The rumor was raised during a program of interviews on a private television channel and got before the PML-N Senator Irfan Siddiqui, who fired him as a manufactured story. However, he clarified that no position in politics is absolute: “Today we cannot comment on what could happen tomorrow.”
“There was a time when it was inconceivable to think that Asif Zardari would become the president of the country,” Siddiqui added. He argued that Nawaz Sharif does not house such ambition and that the matter has never been discussed.
This was the second time that such rumors reached the waves. Previously, there were strong rumors that would suggest that the head of the Army aspired to become president and that Zarari’s departure was imminent. According to sources close to Zardari, these reports had disturbed the president.
A party leader, who interacted with Zardari during those days, said that although the party leaders described the unfounded rumors, Zardari saw them as “smoke that is never without fire.” According to the reports, I was restless and sought clarity on the matter. On both occasions, Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi publicly denied speculation.
Central Information Secretary of PPP Nadeem Afzal Chan, speaking with The express trusteeHe said there was no truth in the unfounded speculation of the media. He stressed that eliminating the president was not “walking in the park.”
“There is a strenuous constitutional mechanism that must be followed to accuse the president. As things are, even if there is any desire within the PML-N, they simply do not have teeth to do so,” he said.
Chan added that PML-N leaders must refrain from reminding the president of his constitutional limits. “Because when the PPP takes them to that offer and begs them a mirror, they will begin to moan.”
A PPP leader said there was a premeditated effort to keep the party under pressure. “It has happened too many times to ignore them as the subsequent thoughts of desperate attention search engines,” he said. “If someone thinks that the PPP will move from its position, it is very wrong.”
He speculated that the PML-N or Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi could be behind rumors. “Naqvi has great ambitions, and to reach its goal, nothing is outside the limits,” he said.
Attempts were made to get to Senator Irfan Siddiqui to comment, but they were not successful.
