Canvassing: Bilawal calls Nawaz, Imran establishment’s creation

Addresses rally in Karachi in support of PPP candidate for bye-election to Sindh Assembly


Hafeez Tunio July 07, 2017
Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari addresses a public rally in Karachi on July 7, 2017. EXPRESS NEWS SCREEN GRAB

KARACHI: Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairperson Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari has said that Imran Khan and Nawaz Sharif are two sides of same coin and both are the creation of the establishment.

“Khan and Sharif are hungry for power … just to loot and plunder the public wealth. Both have personal agendas instead of ensuring national progress,” said Bilwal on Friday while addressing a rally in Karachi’s PS-114 Mehmoodabad constituency where a by-election to Sindh provincial assembly would be held on July 9.

The young PPP leader said that the Sharif family was flustered every time they were summoned by the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) probing their offshore assets.

Lawyer wants Bilawal to drop ‘Bhutto’ from name

“The Sharif family does not believe in democracy … it just wants to establish personal fiefdom over the country,” he said.

“They have [even] tried to make the JIT controversial. The king, [his two] princes and the princess raised a hue and cry whenever they were summoned for the inquiry,” he said, adding, “We will not let the Sharif family escape from the country. They have to return the looted money and face accountability.”

Bilawal said his mother, his father and other party leaders faced trials and false cases in accountability courts, but they never complained the way the Sharif family was doing.

Criticising the PML-N government and Imran Khan, he said: The federal government is confined to advertisements and Imran Khan to Twitter.”

He was of the view that the people in FATA wanted to become part of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, but the PML-N government was opposing the idea.

Talking on the foreign issues, the PPP chairperson said his party favoured initiating dialogue with India for peace, but it would never tolerate atrocities perpetrated by Indian forces against Kashmiris.

By ignoring the Kashmir issue, he blamed, Prime Minister Sharif was trying to bolster his personal friendship with Modi.

PPP will support institutions if govt confronts them: Bilawal

Bilawal wondered why the federal government had failed to implement the National Action Plan. “Terrorism and sectarianism are on the rise, but the government is not doing anything to root out this menace.”

He appreciated Senator Saeed Ghani, a PPP candidate for PS-114 seat, and called him a diehard PPP worker.

He said the MQM remained in power for 30 years in Karachi, but did nothing to improve the conditions in the megapolis.

A large crowd from various parts of Karachi attended the PPP corner meeting. Strict security measures were in place and the main road leading to Mehmoodabad was closed for traffic.

PPP Senator Saeed Ghani, Qamar Zaman Kaira and other leaders also spoke on the occasion.

PM advised to find replacement

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif “must quickly find his replacement as every allegation against him will now be proven in the court”, Chairman of the Awami Muslim League (AML) Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed said on Friday.

Speaking to the participants of a car-rally in PS-114, the AML chief said that the JIT and Panama scandal would prove to be the last nail in the PML-N’s coffin.

Rasheed – arrived in Karachi to campaign for PTI candidate Najeeb Haroon – appreciated Imran Khan’s efforts for mobilising the public “against the corruption of the Sharif family, finally dragged them to the court”.

He predicted a disintegrated PML-N in case of an opposing verdict by the Supreme Court. He also criticised the Sindh government for rescinding the National Accountability law.

The AML leader said that Pir Pagara and the MQM-Pakistan would secure a significant number of seats in the upcoming general election.

He said that the Pak Sarzameen Party would merge with the MQM-Pakistan, but he did not see any role of the MQM-London in the politics of the city or the province.

He urged the voters living in the constituency to vote for the PTI candidate and said that no other political party had ever done anything for the public good.

Rasheed was accompanied by local PTI leaders, including Haleem Adil Sheikh, Firdous Shamim Naqvi, Jamal Siddiqi and Arif Alvi.

He said that next eight weeks were critical for the country during which things would change rapidly.

COMMENTS (2)

Mrs Boom Boom Vrooom | 6 years ago | Reply Well, yeah, everything Bilawal said about Nawaz Sharif or Imran can be applied to Zardari and him. Fact of the matter, his father and him are the creation of BB's assassination.
Hussain | 6 years ago | Reply Basically, he wrote an essay/speed on his father Asif Ali Zardari, pressed CTRL+F and Replaced his father's name with 'NS and IK'. You can say 100 things against IK, but money/looting is not one of them.
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