Nawaz glad over Zardari's return, says he should lead PPP

SARAJEVO: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif expressed that he was glad that Pakistan People's Party Co-Chairman and former President of Pakistan Asif Ali Zardari was returning to the country.

I am actually very happy that Zardari is returning to Pakistan, he said while speaking to journalists on Thursday before leaving for the homeland here in the Bosnia capital. He added that the former president will keep his partys control in his hands.

Chairman Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari had announced that partys co-chairman and his father Asif Ali Zardari will make his return to the country on December 23. The PPP chairman said Zardari's doctors had permitted him to make the trip to Pakistan and he would return on Friday, landing in Karachi.

During todays media talk when a journalist asked the prime minster how the year 2016 went for him, he said, Alhamdulillah (Thank God) it went well, it could have gone better.

If everybody performs his duties then Pakistan will perform better, he said.

Prime Minister Sharif said that his government will end in another one and a half year. Our government worked. What did the people who had a seven-point agenda do? In their tenure the country was marred by load-shedding and terrorism.

The prime minister added that due to protests nine-months of the country were wasted. Despite protests we will solve the problem of load-shedding by 2018.

PPP Chairman Bilawal has threatened to launch an anti-government campaign on December 27 if his four demands are not met. The demands include: formation of a parliamentary committee on national security, adoption of a PPP-drafted bill on Panama Leaks probe, implementation of the decision of a multi-party conference chaired by Asif Zardari on CPEC and appointment of a full-time foreign minister.

"If Zardari is in Pakistan, our four demands will be fulfilled soon," Bilawal vowed.