Former Pak prez Zardari starts weekly show with TV channel

Former president of Pakistan Asif Ali Zardari has started his weekly show with a local private TV channel in which he appears as a political analyst.

The former president's show named "Pakistan Khappay with President Asif Ali Zardari" will be aired every Sunday at 9:30 pm (local time), Bol TV said.

Zardari's first show was aired yesterday in which he appeared live from his residence Bilawal House in Karachi and responded to questions posed by an anchor.

Zardari, 61, targeted the government for failing to appoint a full-time foreign minister. "If the government does not have a foreign minister, then, I believe, there is no concern for Pakistan's position on the global stage and the numerous challenges the country is facing," he said.

Zardari the second prominent political personality roped in by Bol TV after former president general Pervez Musharraf started his show on the same channel.

The Sindhi word 'Khapay' in the show's name roughly translates as "live long" and is linked with a famous speech made by Zardari after his wife and former two-time premier Benazir Bhutto was killed in 2007.

The atmosphere was charged in his home province of Sindh where some of the angry workers of the party raised slogans against Pakistan, saying 'Pakistan na khappay', prompting Zardari to respond forcefully to silence them by saying 'Pakistan khappy'.

Zardari, who is co-chairperson of Pakistan People's Party, served as the 11th President of Pakistan from 2008 to 2013.