Pakistan Peoples Party Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari slammed the government on Monday for suppressing the political activities in the country by harassing the opposition but insisted that the party would not compromise on its principles.
Addressing a press conference, Bilawal accused the government of creating obstacles in his party’s plans to observe late Benazir Bhutto’s death anniversary on December 27 in Rawalpindi, saying that the authorities had not yet issued permission for the event.
Bilawal’s presser came hours after the arrest of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Secretary General Ahsan Iqbal by NAB in the Narowal Sports City (NSC) Project case. Bilawal said: “NAB-Niazi nexus is exposed with the arrest of yet another opposition politician.”
The PPP chairman wondered how could the ministers of the “selected government” know about future moves of NAB. “What kind of accountability is this?” he asked, appealing to the judiciary to intervene and protect human rights of the opposition leaders.
NAB is investigating fake accounts cases against Bilawal’s father and PPP Co-Chairperson Asif Zardari, and aunt, Faryal Talpur, who also have the shares in the Zardari Group. They both are among the key accused in a multi-billion rupees money laundering scandal that surfaced last year.
Bilawal said the then chief justice of Pakistan had stated that the PPP chairman had “nothing to do” with the fake case accounts case. Despite this, he continued, he had appeared before NAB to answer its questions.
He said the NAB chairman had revealed earlier this month that references were ready in the Peshawar Bus Rapid Transport (BRT) and Malam Jabba resort projects cases, but questioned whether any minister from the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government was issued a call-up notice.
Bilawal lamented the suppression of political activities by the government. “The government wants to harass the opposition. Any opposition leader, who speaks up [against the government] is arrested. However, he added that the next year would the year of elections.
Responding to another question, he said that the government had made no progress on the legislation for army chief’s extension. “We thought Prime Minister Imran Khan would be visiting Raiwind and Bilawal House the next day after the court’s verdict [but he did not],” he remarked.
At the news conference, the PPP chairperson was accompanied by party Senator Sherry Rehman, Sindh Minister Saeed Ghani, Barrister Murtaza Wahab, Suhail Anwar Sial and Waqar Mehdi.
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