Bilawal demands accountability of those who 'stole public mandate'

PPP chief says the incumbent rulers lack capability to run the affairs of the government

LAHORE: Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has said the federation of Pakistan is in a dangerous zone as the smaller provinces which the PPP had made efforts to strengthen are annoyed by the flawed politics being pursued by the rulers.

“The PPP did what it could do to strengthen smaller provinces and gave provincial autonomy to them through 18th Amendment but now attempts are being made to roll back that historic amendment in the Constitution,” Bilawal said on Saturday.

The PPP chairman was addressing through video link a function organised at the Lahore High Court to mark the 91st birth anniversary of the PPP’s slain founder Zulfikar Ali Bhutto (ZAB).

“We’ll never compromise on the supremacy of the Constitution as both my mother [Benazir Bhutto] and grandfather [ZAB] sacrificed their lives for the sake of this very Constitution,” he added.



Bilawal said ‘judicial murder’ of an elected premier had put a question mark on the judicial system. The forces of status quo conspired to physically eliminate the late Bhutto but his legacy still lives on even after four decades. Bhutto is a victim of a great miscarriage of our judicial system, he added.

Reiterating that the July 25 general election was rigged, Bilawal asked who will hold accountable the manipulators who have stolen the votes of people.  “The incumbent government that came into power by stealing the mandate has no capacity to deliver as it focuses only on blaming previous governments.”

The PPP chief said there should be no sacred cows when it comes to accountability. However, he said, the wheels of judiciary stop when it comes to the Asghar Khan case, in which an intelligence agency was accused of bankrolling politicians to stop the PPP from coming into power in the 1990 polls.

“There is a need for a uniform anti-corruption law for all,” he added.

The PPP chairman also rejected the joint investigation team’s (JIT) report on fake bank accounts and said the report was leaked by the same Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) officials who had prepared it for the media trial of the PPP that misled the people and judiciary.

“The JIT report is just a finding and it’s not binding on the courts but the report was leaked only for our media trial,” he added.

Bilawal said some forces tried to stop him whenever he reached out to people.

“I received a notice right after my speech in Gilgilt-Baltistan public gathering and then I received the questionnaire after my Sukkur Jalsa and then I was placed on the ECL [Exit Control List] when I delivered my speech at the death anniversary of my mother in Garhi Khuda Bakhsh,” Bilawal said.

Defending PPP’s prominent leaders Qaim Ali Shah and Murad Ali Shah, he said they were never accused of corruption but they were denied a free trial as they were never called by the JIT.

Bilawal said there is a dire need to bring reforms in the judicial system, especially in the subordinate judiciary, because people have to wait for years to get justice. “The PPP will continue fighting for supremacy of the Constitution and will not let Pakistan be pushed into the dark ages,” he said.