Zardari says will not seek another presidential term

President Asif Ali Zardari says that he will not seek another presidential term after his present five-year period expires in September this year.

Zardari’s Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) faced defeat in the general elections in the center and three provinces and has formed government only in southern Sindh province.

Speaking to TV anchors and newspaper editors in Islamabad, Zardari said the PPP would play a positive role in the incoming government of Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) led by former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.

The president said his party would unanimously support PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif to be elected as prime minister as was done in the case of former premier Yusuf Raza Gilani.

Zardari said Nawaz Sharif would have to decide how to handle the cases of former military ruler General (retd) Pervez Musharraf.

Musharraf has been arrested in connection with the assassination of former Prime Minister, Benazir Bhutto and keeping judges in illegal confinement when he had ruled emergency in 2007.

On US drone strikes, Zardari said that he was not aware of any agreement between the government of Pakistan and the US administration. “May be General Musharraf had made some sort of agreement with the US, but I am not aware of any such agreement nor I have seen it during my five-year tenure,” he said.

He expressed happiness on the first successful transition of power between democratically elected governments in the 66-year history of Pakistan, a milestone in a country with a history of military coups, adding that not only Nawaz, but each party had played an equal role for the sake of democracy.

Responding to the Swiss cases, President Zardari said he had already spent eight years in jail and yet no charges had been proven against him. The president said it was a controversial matter which did not hold any importance in his eyes.

Short URL: https://www.newspakistan.pk/?p=40442

Posted by Tahir Khan on Jun 2 2013. Filed under Latest News, National, Pakistan, Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.