PTI govt may compel PPP to adopt aggressive stance: Bilawal

PPP chief says govt resorting to brutal tactics to suppress opposition

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has said if Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government continued its ‘oppression’, his party would also be compelled to adopt an aggressive stance like Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman.

“The PTI government should not remain in power by the end of this year,” Bilawal said on Monday after meeting his father and PPP Co-Chairman Asif Ali Zardari at Rawalpindi’s Adiala Jail.

Bilawal said his party did not believe in ousting the government through protests or sit-ins as it may put the democratic process in the country in jeopardy.

“However, if the government continued to resort to its brutal tactic, a democrat like me may also be compelled to use aggressive measures like Maulana,” the PPP chairman said in a reference to the JUI-F’s plan to stage a protest in Islamabad on October 27 to topple the PTI government.

Bilawal, who met his incarcerated father for two hours along with his sisters – Aseefa and Bakhtawar – and legal team, said Zardari is ill and even doctors of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), which has filed money laundering cases against the former president, recommend his treatment.

“However, our requests for his medical treatment are ignored. We have even approached courts for this purpose but the government is ignoring court orders. Is this the State of Madina where even a former president doesn’t have access to medical treatment,” he said.

Talking with reference to the JUI-F’s ‘Azadi March’, Bilawal said his party’s standpoint on the protest is clear. “We support Maulana politically and morally. However, we believe that ousting the PTI government through a sit-in would not augur well for democracy.”