Bilawal hints at hunting down ‘tiger’

Pundits believe he will announce the party’s Southern Punjab president.

BAHAWALPUR/ SUKKUR: Activists of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) will hunt down the ‘tiger’ if its four demands are not met and they will not let the ‘tiger’ escape, PPP Chairperson Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari said on Thursday.

Bilawal arrived in Rahimyar Khan on a two-day visit where he was greeted by Yousaf Raza Gilani and Makhdoom Ahmad Mehmood who later set out for Dari Sanghi at the head of a rally.



Political pundits assign great significance to the PPP chairperson’s visit: they say he is expected to announce the decision regarding the selection of the party’s southern Punjab president. Addressing party workers, Bilawal said that the party’s restructuring was in progress and all leaders had been asked to boost public contacts.

Reminding the audience that the PPP had given Pakistan its constitution and its atomic bombs, he said that his party’s slogan of ‘Roti, Kapra aur Makaan’ highlighted the importance it assigned to the poor population.

Expressing confidence about winning the next elections, he said that his party would always serve the people of Pakistan.

According to him, the people were fed up with the PML-N government, adding that the ruling party only cared about prolonging its rule. “Only PPP can bring change through public support,” he said.

During his visit he was expected to address at various locations, including Dari Sanghi, Khanpur Adda, Chowk Thali, Kok Ekri Bahadapur Road, Chowk Bahadarpur, Muhammadpur, Chowk Shahbazpur, Bhatta Wahan and Rangpur.



Later, he visited the residence of Makhdoom Ahmad Mehmood in Jamaldinwali where he also addressed the party workers.

Shah takes a swipe at Imran

“Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is getting more powerful and gaining popularity because of Imran Khan’s wrong policies,” Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Khursheed Ahmed Shah told media persons on Thursday.

“I forgive Imran Khan for his (impolite) remarks against me because (I know) he is frustrated,” he said.

Imran had claimed he would continue the lockdown until the prime minister resigned but he backed down. “He is now (just) venting his anger against us,” said Shah.

Pointing out that PPP had always waged a war against military dictators, he said: “Our struggle was never to grab power.”

“Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is getting more powerful and gaining more popularity due to the wrong policies of Imran Khan,” he asserted.

“Now the Panamagate issue is in court which will not succumb to pressure from any quarters and will (surely) decide the case on merit … But I am afraid that this may take a long time.”

He said that he did not subscribe to the slogans of ‘go, go’, adding that this paradigm only benefited the ‘third force’, helping derail democracy.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 4^th, 2016.