PHOTO: EXPRESS
The PPP stalwarts started gathering on Ferozpur Road after the news that the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) officials have reached PPP co-chairman’s residence in Islamabad broke on the national media. The party activists shouted slogans in favour of their leader and burnt tyres.
Speaking to the media persons, PPP Lahore ticket-holder Faisal Meer, who was leading workers, said these party activists have gathered on their own. “It is just the beginning. Once the party issues a call for agitation, the PPP jialas will block the entire city to express their solidarity with their leader,” he said.
Meer said Zardari was being victimised for the past four decades under the garb of accountability. “He (Zardari) has been arrested just to satisfy the whims of Prime Minister Imran Khan. His arrest is illegal and the government will have to pay a huge price for this,” he warned.
Meanwhile, PPP loyalist also staged protest demonstrations at Gharhi Shahu Chowk, Shahdara Chowk, Chairing Cross, Multan Chungi, Thokar Niaz Baig, Data Darbar Chowk and Shalimar Road. A large number of PPP workers also registered their protest in front of the Lahore Press Club and shouted slogans against Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government.
The metro bus service remained partially suspended owing to the protests. Traffic jams were also witnessed in different areas of the city.
Reacting over Zardari’s arrest, PPP central leader Qamar Zaman Kaira said there was nothing new in this case. “PPP had been witnessing similar dubious actions in the past and it will stand for it. The party has an illustrious history of the political struggle and rule of law in the country,” he remarked.
He highlighted that a trial was initiated against the Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) supremo Nawaz Sharif but he was not arrested but that was not the case when it came to PPP’s leadership. It was the PPP that empowered the NAB, he added.
Kaira also condemned the law-enforcing agencies for misbehaving with the party workers.
Speaking to The Express Tribune, PPP central spokesman Chaudhry Manzoor said the party has called a meeting of the central executive committee (CEC) to finalise its future course of action. He highlighted that party chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari had ordered all party workers to remain peaceful.
Meanwhile, commenting on the arrest of former president Asif Zardari, Punjab Minister for Information and Culture Syed Sumsam Ali Bukhari said Zardari made a good decision by surrendering himself. He said the law was equal for everybody.
He also expressed his astonishment over the comments of Shehbaz Sharif for Zardari and said it has once again been proved that the ‘looters of the country’s exchequer’ were on the same page having the same narrative. He said PPP and PML-N should not hold the PTI government responsible for their own ‘wrongdoings’.
The minister said the government would act upon the orders of the courts in letter and spirit. “The courts of the country are free and impartial. Everyone will have to face the process of accountability,” he said.
Bukhari further said Prime Minister Imran Khan has given a clear message to the nation that he wanted to make Pakistan a self-sufficient country through austerity measures. “The national exchequer was looted during the past regimes but the PTI government is committed to stabilise the economy and this will be possible only when we expand our income tax net like the developed countries.”
The minister said every citizen would support the government provided the direction of the rulers was correct. “Our prime minister wants to develop Pakistan through thick and thin at all costs. The corruption mafia is supporting the status-co. These plunderers of billions of rupees will no longer mislead the masses,” the minister concluded.
Published in The Express Tribune, June 11th, 2019.
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