Will not let anyone 'annex' an inch of Sindh: Bilawal

PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on Friday said the countdown had begun for the PTI-led government and the opposition parties were considering several options to send it packing including resigning from parliament.

Addressing a press conference in Karachi, the scion of the Bhutto dynasty also hit out at Prime Minister Imran Khan for using state institutions as “political props”.

"Everywhere he [PM Imran] says that all the institutions are with him. These institutions belong to Pakistan, not only to single political party” he said.

The PPP chairman said the incumbent government had to go as political parties could no longer raise their voices in parliament which had been turned into a rubber stamp.

He maintained that the media had been stopped from criticising the government and the interviews of opposition leaders were being censored. “We will bring this incompetent government to an end together,” he added.

The PPP chairman said his party had stood up to powerful dictators and would not be intimidated by a cricketer.

Lashing out at the PTI government for the registration of a sedition case against top PML-N leaders, Bilawal said the current regime had stooped so low that it had even booked Azad Jammu and Kashmir Prime Minister Raja Farooq Haider.

Someone files sedition case against the prime minister of Azad Jammu and Kashmir under your [Imran Khan] nose and you act like you are unaware of it. This country cannot bear the mishandlings of yours, the time has come that Imran Khan starts to worry," he added.

The PPP chairman reiterated his stance over the promulgation of the Pakistan Island Development Authority Ordinance, 2020 for the ownership of the twin islands of Bundal and Buddo off the coast of Karachi.

“We won’t let anyone 'annex' an inch of Sindh,” he added.

"Today you are occupying these islands, tomorrow you might also try to occupy Umerkot, Kherpur and Badin as well.”

A day earlier, PM Imran had tasked Sindh Governor Imran Ismail to sort out the matters related to the Bundal Island project in consultations with the provincial government.

"I will not even meet him [Imran Ismail]. Take back your ordinance. Our intentions are absolutely clear. We will not start any conversation until this unconstitutional step is not reversed," a visibly angry Bilawal said.

It was not just about Sindh, he said, but also about the coastal areas of Balochistan as well. "The government should accept its mistake and take back the ordinance at once. Under no condition, we will let you annex even an inch of this land by such unconstitutional means. We will resist this undemocratic behaviour at all forums."