Lahore:
Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), despite dismissive rumors of President Asif Ali Zardari’s removal, did not seem nervous about the frequency with which such speculation reached mainstream media.
Some in the party felt a hidden agenda behind back-to-back discussions about the president’s future. The latest of these stray rumors suggested that Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Nawaz Sharif wanted to become president of Pakistan.
The rumor was bred during a talk show on a private TV channel and was set for PML-N senator Irfan Siddiqui, which dismissed it as a fabricated story. However, he clarified that no position in politics is absolutely: “We today cannot comment on what can happen tomorrow.”
“There was a time when it was unimaginable to believe that Asif Zardari would become president of the country,” Siddiqui added. He maintained that Nawaz Sharif has no such ambition and that the case has never been discussed.
This was the second time that such rumors went to the air waves. Previously, there were strong rumors suggesting that the army chief was striving to become president and that Zardari’s departure from the office was imminent. According to sources close to Zardari, these reports had disturbed the president.
A party leader who interacted with Zardari these days said that although party leaders called the rumors baseless, Zardari saw them as “smoke that is never without fire.” He was reportedly uneasy and sought clarity of the case. On both occasions, Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi denied public speculation.
PPP Central Secretary of Information Nadeem Afzal Chan who speaks to Express Pakinomistsaid there was no truth to the unfounded media speculation. He emphasized that the removal of the president was not “walking in the park.”
“There is a strenuous constitutional mechanism that must be followed to build the president. As things stand, even if there is such a wish in PML-N, they simply do not have the teeth to do so,” he said.
Chan added that PML-N leaders should refrain from reminding the president of his constitutional boundaries. “Because when PPP takes them up on this offer and holds a mirror to them, they will start to whine.”
A PPP leader said there was a deliberate effort to keep the party under pressure. “It has happened too many times to ignore these as subsequently by desperate attention -looking attention,” he said. “If anyone thinks PPP will bend from his position, they are badly wrong.”
He speculated that either PML-N or Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi could be behind the rumors. “Naqvi has great ambitions, and to get to his goal, nothing is out of boundaries,” he claimed.
Attempts were made to reach Senator Irfan Siddiqui for comment, but they turned out to be successful.
