HYDERABAD: Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has refuted political statements that the Supreme Court judgment against former prime minister Nawaz Sharif entailed repercussions for democracy.
"I must say categorically that his [Sharif's] removal poses no threat to parliament or democracy for which we have made innumerable sacrifices," said Bilawal while addressing the inauguration ceremony of National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases (NICVD) in Larkana on Sunday.
Urging the nation to accept the apex court's order, he said, "Disqualification of prime minister by the judgment of the Supreme Court requires adherence by us all."
The young PPP leader criticised Sharif for being reluctant to sacrifice his position for the sake of Pakistan.
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Reiterating former president Gen (retd) Pervez Musharraf's popular slogan “Pakistan first”, Bilawal said that circumstances demanded of the people to put the country before themselves ... “sadly former prime minister Nawaz Sharif does not share this sentiment”.
He supported the Sindh government's legislation for establishing a provincial anti-corruption watchdog as a replacement for National Accountability Bureau. “PPP believes in impartial and exhaustive accountability, which the Sindh government seeks to do so by introducing legislation,” he added.
The PPP chairman praised the Sindh government and Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah for the initiatives taken in the health sector.
He challenged the chief ministers of Punjab, Balochistan and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa provinces to show a programme like NICVD where state-of-the-art cardiac facilities, including primary angioplasty, were being provided free of cost to everyone.
He praised the NICVD management for transforming itself in two-and-a-half-year into world's largest centre for cardiac care and angioplasty. "This is no small fete," he underlined.
"It is a testament of Sindh government's whole-hearted commitment to serve the people indiscriminately," he asserted. "It is also my dream to serve the people of Pakistan regardless of cast, colour, creed and financial standing. It is my dream that every individual in the country has access to state-of-the-art medical care so that not one life is lost because they cannot afford medical care."
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He said the Sindh government has struggled to upgrade hospitals and trauma centres, establish cardiac centres, expand women and children hospitals, provide ambulances and other facilities and introduce safe blood transfusion methods.
Appreciating the support and sacrifices of people of Larkana for the PPP, Bilawal recalled that his grandfather Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, former prime minister and founding president of the PPP, began to pay back to the city as early as 1973.
“Bhutto established Chandka Medical College and hospital over four decades ago at a time when such medical facilities existed only in large cities," Bilawal claimed.
According to him, like in the past, the NICVD will serve the people of Larkana region as well as the people living in coterminous areas of Punjab and Balochistan.
The centre is being set up at a cost of Rs350 million. Since its soft opening a few months ago, over 100 primary angioplasties have been done. After construction of the centre's building, a range of health services will be added to the existing facilities of angioplasty, pediatric cardio care and echo services.
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