‘No compromise on parliamentary system, 18th amendment’

Govt has failed to provide relief to the masses, says PPP chairman

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The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Zardari has said his party will not change its stance on the presidential system, 18th constitutional amendment and the military courts even if the entire Bhutto family and every PPP worker is put behind  the bars.

"You may threaten us by anything you wish to but we will not come under pressure and not be intimated by the NAB [National Accountability Bureau]," Bilawal said on Monday while addressing a press conference in the federal capital.

“We are heir of [Zulfikar Ali] Bhutto and have sacrificed lives for democracy. We will not backtrack on our principled stance and will hold the government accountable. The government will not be allowed to run the country this way,” he added.



The PPP chief said his party wants the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government and the parliament to complete their tenure but the way the government is being run is proving damaging the country.

"The public will not tolerate the government for longer period of time. We have the options of starting a movement and resigning [from legislatures]," he said.

Bilawal, who addressed media after a briefing by the chief military spokesperson Major General Asif Ghafoor, said the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) should not issue statements on political matters.

“Offering political narrative through the DG ISPR has rendered the institute controversial and the PPP does not want this to happen.”  He said policies of ministries should be handled by related minsters.

The PPP chief warned that the PPP will not accept a bailout package if the government does not make public its agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).



"The government is planning to bring an amnesty scheme in order to convert black money into white money but where is Ramazan package for the poor?" he asked.  Bilawal claimed that the PTI government has wasted the previous nine months of the nation.

He asked the government to examine its economic policy and warned that the poor people will react to the way the economy is handled.  "The government's economic policy is anti-people as prices of medicines and other items have been raised."

The PPP chief said the government had accepted that its policy was wrong as Prime Minister Imran Khan has already changed his finance minister. “The PM feels no shame because he has not apologised to the nation for his wrong policies. How long will the poor bear the burden of government's wrong policies?”

Bilawal criticised the government for removing subsidies available to the poor and said taxes have been increased.  He said during the PPP's rule, terrorism was at its peak and the international economy was reeling under an economic crisis, but his party provided relief to people.



“Despite difficult conditions, relief had been provided to the nation and employment was provided to 6.8 million people. The poor were also helped through the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) and salaries were raised by 100%,” he added.

Bilawal asked what became of the PM’s programme to provide one millions jobs. He agreed with the PPP Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari that NAB and economy could not work together “as everyone knows General Musharraf made NAB for political engineering”.

"The PPP has tried to rectify the NAB laws ever since but no one has supported us. We are trying to this day but the PTI does not support us," he said, adding that the PPP wants accountability in the country but this process should be based on justice.

"The PPP wants the law to be the same for everyone and unbiased," he said adding that "We want to clarify that the law of a dictator can't run parallel to democracy."

To a question related to an alleged deal between the government and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), he said if there is justice and democracy then there is no room for a deal.

Bilawal claimed that currently all political parties are on the same page. He said the PML-N supreme leader and former premier Nawaz Sharif is ill and his health should be the main priority.