Bilawal blasts PM in scathing speech

PPP chairman asks Nawaz to learn politics from Zardari

SUKKUR:

Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairperson Bilawal Bhutto Zardari used a public rally on Monday to hit out at the government for letting former military ruler Pervez Musharraf fly abroad.

Musharraf, who has been facing a slew of court cases, including one on treason charges, travelled to Dubai on March 18 after the government struck his name off the Exit Control List on the Supreme Court orders.



“Mian Sahib, how can the man responsible for the murder of my mother and facing trial under Article 6 of the Constitution leave the country,” Bilawal said addressing Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. Musharraf has also been nominated in the assassination of PPP chairperson Benazir Bhutto.

“Why do we have two systems – one for the Bhuttos and the other for Musharraf?” he asked while speaking at a huge rally in Garhi Khuda Bux which was organised to mark 37th death anniversary of PPP founding chairman Zulfikar Ali Bhutto.

Bilawal blamed the PML-N government for ballooning external debts, saying the government has borrowed around Rs45 trillion so far in its tenure. “Mian Sahib, have pity on poor Pakistanis,” he said, adding that only declining global oil prices have saved the country from default.

The PPP chairman also criticised the government for squandering taxpayers’ money on mega infrastructure projects. “Mian Sahib, the poor want roti, while you offer them Metro bus. And when they demand better health and education facilities, you come up with Orange line train.”

Bilawal also blamed Premier Nawaz for doling out national assets to his cronies under the garb of privatisation. “Please stop this otherwise you will be responsible if democracy is derailed,” he said. “If you don’t know how to deal with these matters, learn some politics from Asif Ali Zardari.”

Bilawal pointed out the conflicting approaches adopted by the interior minister and the defence minister when protesters laid a siege to Islamabad late last month.

He also slammed the premier for his recent address to the nation. “Mian Sahib, this time too you disappointed the nation. Had the NAP (National Action Plan) been implemented in letter and spirit, the [Islamabad] protesters would not have been able to deliver hate-speeches in front of parliament for four days.”

The PPP chairman also criticised the interior minister, saying Chaudhry Nisar had in the past conducted press conferences against the opposition but went missing in the aftermath of the Lahore blast.



Swearing on ‘the martyrs of Garhi Khuda Bux’, Bilawal promised to wage war against terrorists.

Expressing his amazement at reports that RAW agents were arrested from Ramzan Sugar Mills owned by the prime minister, Bilawal accused the PML-N government of forgetting the Kashmir issue.

Leader of the Opposition Khursheed Shah said the PPP founder had bulldozed a dictatorial system and paved the way for democracy in the country in which the poor were made rulers of their country.


Published in The Express Tribune, April 5^th, 2016.