Zardari vows to fight back, says only his ‘dead body’ would be lifted from Presidency - India News and Travel Times Provides India-centric and other News and Features

Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari is undeterred by the present turmoil in the country and the wide scale demand for his resignation, and has made it clear that he would fight it out come what may. During a marathon meeting of Pakistan People’s Party’s ( PPP ) Central Executive Committee ( CEC ) on Saturday, Zardari vowed to face the challenge. “They would only lift my dead body from the Presidency,” he told party leaders during the meeting, while referring to his opponents. Zardari also denied using the ‘Sindh Card’ to achieve political ends. It is pertinent to mention here that Federal Minister Khurshid Shah, in his speech during the meeting came down hard on the opposition and country’s establishment, saying leaders from Sindh have been targeted in the country in the past. “They murdered Zulfikar Ali Bhutto , Benazir Bhutto , and now they are planning the same about President Zardari ,” Shah said. Shah had suggested party leaders to play the “Sindh card” to steer clear of the current political chaos However, sources said Zardari rejected any such notion of using the so called “Sindh Card”, saying he does not want to “become another Mujeebur Rehman ”. Another PPP leader from from Sindh, Dr Safdar Abbasi , rejected Shah’s stance. Abbasi said if the party played the “Sindh card” it would be playing in the hands of the nationalists. “We have always resisted nationalist tendencies for being a party of the federation... if we take this position, the nationalists will lead this cause and we will lose our identity,” The Nation quoted Abbasi, as saying. Sources privy to the CEC meeting also said that Zardari also opposed taking any confrontation with the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) for its strident opposition of the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO).