I foiled 3 removal bids: Zardari

ISLAMABAD President Asif Ali Zardari made startling revelations on Friday saying that he had survived three bids aimed at unseating him since his election as President of the country on September 6, 2008.
The President made these revelations during an informal off the record talk with a representative delegation of Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ) that called on him at Aiwan-e-Sadr, which were later leaked to some TV channels.
Despite repeated telephonic attempts, Spokesman of the President, Farhatullah Babar, was not immediately available for his reaction over the off the record talk telecast by a few private TV channels in spite of standing instructions from the President as well as his Press Secretary.
Without naming the forces trying to remove him from power corridors, President Zardari said he was determined to foil such attempts. He said he would strengthen democracy by bringing major changes in the governance system through major reforms. The President said that he had set a deadline for the Parliament to do away with Article 58(2)b as well as controversial clauses of the 17th Amendment by March 2010. He said he would not address the joint sitting of the Parliament, a mandatory constitutional requirement, if it failed in doing so.
This move, many political observers believed, was in line with his recent meeting with PML-N Quaid Nawaz Sharif to implement the Charter of Democracy (CoD) signed by the PPP and PML-N.
President Zardari expressed his satisfaction that PPP-led coalition government was working hard to give mutually acceptable National Finance Commission (NFC) Award as well as special package for Balochistan being prepared by the Government to address the grievances of people of the restive province.