'Step down before Jan 31 or else face long march', Bilawal warns Imran

LARKANA:

The Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) hosted the 11-party opposition alliance, PDM, on Sunday at its public gathering at Garhi Khuda Bakhsh, commemorating the 13th death anniversary of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto.

The leaders of the Pakistan Democratic Movement – as part of the second phase of its anti-government campaign – visited the mausoleum of Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto before addressing the huge crowd.

Tens of thousands of people from across the country had gathered in the PPP bastion to pay their homage to the great leader.

 

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz Vice President Maryam Nawaz, Balochistan National Party (BNP-M) chief Akhtar Mengal, Pashtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP) chief Mahmood Khan Achakzai as well as leaders of the Awami National Party were among those present at the venue.

Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam - Fazl chief and PDM president Maulana Fazlur Rehman was represented by JUI-F Central Secretary-General Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haideri, Siraj Ahmed Khan, Abdul Razzaq Abid Lakho, Saud Afzal Jalijo and Maulana Abdullah Mehr.

 

The public addresseses of party leaders began following a Mushaira held to honour the slain former prime minister.

Bilawal Bhutto Zardari

PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, while paying tribute to his late mother Benazir Bhutto, said her ideology is still alive whereas those who fought with her are nowhere to be seen. “The grave of [former military dictator] Ziaul Haq is deserted whereas Gen Musharraf is living a life of a coward [in self-imposed exile],” he said.

Bilawal said due to anti-people policies of the PTI-led government millions of people are compelled to live below the poverty line and people belonging to all walks of life are suffering hardships. He said he could not accept that the country is being run under a true democratic system because people and political parties are deprived of their rights and freedom of speech.

He said PM Imran’s ‘selectors’ installed him into power but they could not give him the ability to run the country.

“Imran Khan will be held accountable for unprecedented rise in the prices of essential commodities and making the lives of masses miserable.

“The puppet prime minister is not even cognisant of the issues being faced by the countrymen because he did not come into power through votes.”

The PPP chief claimed that the federal government is trying to occupy the islands of Balochistan and Sindh. “We will not let them invade our islands.”

Bilawal said the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) can only be successful if local residents are given benefits and employment opportunities.

He asked his party workers and supporters to get ready to march on Islamabad should PM Imran failed to resign and go home before January 31.

“If [PM] Imran does not resign by January 31 then we will march on Islamabad,” announced the PPP chairman while asking his supporters to be ready to endure baton-charge and other forms of intimidation by the government.

He urged the supporters to get ready for the long march, which he claimed would remove the “selected and puppet prime minister”.

Asif Ali Zardari

The ailing PPP leader said the PTI-led government lacked competence to manage the affairs of the country.

“They [PM Imran's government] can only run a cricket team and not a country.”

He said the PTI government would collapse “under its own burden” and predicted that the ruling PTI would perish just like the past political parties formed by the military dictators. “People like you come and go. You don’t have any value.”

The former president said the Imran Khan-led government can be toppled but stressed to adopt ‘out of the box strategy’ to remove him from power. “We need to fill the jails.”

Maryam Nawaz

PML-N vice-president Maryam Nawaz Sharif in her opening remarks sent regards to the crowd in Sindhi and thanked the PPP leadership particularly Bilawal Bhutto for receiving her at their hometown last night in extremely cold weather.

It’s tragic that Bilawal had to lose his mother at such a tender age, she said.

Maryam said she is inspired by Benazir because she laid down her life while fighting the cause of her late father Zulfikar Ali Bhuto.

Maryam said the political parties rectified their mistakes and stopped conspiring against each other after realising that it helped the anti-democratic forces to exploit the weaknesses of the political leaders.

The Charter of Democracy (COD), she said, was signed by late Benazir and her father PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif in 2006 to strengthen democracy in the country. “When they realise they can no more control political parties, then [former ISI chief] Gen Shuja Pasha formed Tehreek-e-Insaf [PM Imran Khan-led ruling party].”

The PML-N leader said PM Imran is “begging for NRO” from PDM and sending his emissaries to strike a deal with the opposition parties.

She described the recent meeting of PML-F’s Muhammad Ali Durrani with PML-N’s incarcerated president Shehbaz Sharif as an attempt by PM Imran to mend ties with opposition parties.

“Imran Khan knows he doesn’t even have the authority to give NRO,” said the PML-N stalwart referring to the prime minister’s recent statement in which he had said giving NRO to opposition by any government would be nothing less than treason against the country.

Maryam said Imran Khan is the only politician in the country who criticised the state institutions while he was in India and accused the incumbent prime minister of dragging military into political affairs.

“Those who brought [Imran Khan] into power will now have to withdraw [their support].

“We don’t ask army to overthrow his [Imran Khan] government, we only ask his selectors to stop supporting him so that people could themselves decide about his fate.

“He [PM Imran] watches PDM’s rally through binocular and then celebrates if he finds any of the opposition leader missing from the stage,” said Maryam while mocking the premier.

 

Abdul Ghafoor Haideri

JUI-F leader Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haideri also paid tribute to late Benzair, saying that the “iron lady” struggled to restore democracy fearlessly and endured hardships and confinements along the way.

Haideri said the incumbent PTI government due to its flawed policies has weakened the country and claimed that it was using “NAB black laws” to victimise opposition leaders.

“We are here to pledge that we will not sit idle until this selected and incompetent government is sent home.”

Akhtar Mengal

Shaheed Benazir Bhutto served her whole life in upholding democracy and for this country, said Balochistan National Party-Mengal (BNP-M) chief Akhtar Mengal while addressing the public gathering.

“She had strived against dictators like the ones we are fighting today,” he added.

“Who were those dictators?” he asked, adding that, “political workers were flogged, women were widowed, children kidnapped, and lands grabbed. Should I blame the Indian army for this? Did the Afghan army attack us?

“They have ruled this country for 70 years. Political parties were broken, new factions were made,” he said.

Referring to the ‘establishment’, Mengal said, “You have lost your own land, and not taken an inch of the enemies. You have used these tanks, fighter jets against your own people.”

He said, "We [the Baloch] do not want to get separated from this country, but do not force our hand, Don’t make the same mistake you made in Bangladesh."

Mengal also called for an impartial investigation into the death of young Baloch leader Karima Baloch in Canada. “The Baloch are now not even safe abroad,” he added.

Abdul Malik Baloch

Malik, while denouncing the fencing in Gwadar, said "the Baloch people reject this usurpation of land".

He said the Baloch people have said a lot about their issues. "I want to listen to what Maryam and Bilawal have to say about us [the Baloch people]," he added.

He said the current government was anything but democratic. adding that all the provinces can force this governmen to resign if they all stood united.

Malik urged people to follow into the steps "of the woman we've gathered today to commemorate".

Amir Haider Khan Hoti

Remembering the slain former premier, ANP’s senior leader Amin Haider Khan Hoti stated that, “It’s been 13 years to BB Shaheed’s death… when I see her political foresight, her struggle, patience and her sacrifices I want to salute her as a follower of the great revolutionary leaders Bacha Khan and Wali Khan.”

“Today, I also thank former president Asif Zardari for not just being a guiding light for me as a chief minister, but also guiding the people of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa,” he added.

He said he still remembered the way Zardari stood for the people of K-P. Hoti observed that “as a Pushtun, I promise you [Zardari] that I will stand with your son [Bilawal Bhutto] as not just a member of the AWP, but as an older brother”.

Rally arrangements

All arrangements for the rally had been completed as people from all over the country continued to reach the venue throughout the day.

Earlier, chief of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam - Fazl (JUI-F) and head of the PDM Maulana Fazlur Rehman was said to have declined the invitation to attend the rally.

On December 24, Zardari invited Fazl to attend the rally. However, on December 26, Fazal declined to attend it. JUI-F senior leader Maulana Rashid Mahmood confirmed the development and said a five-member delegation of party leaders would attend the rally in place of the JUI-F chief.

Fazal’s refusal to attend the rally came at a time when the JUI-F was facing internal turmoil following the expulsion of its four senior members for “deviating from the party policy” and for “creating party within the party”.

As for Maryam Nawaz, the PML-N leader – along with a nine-member PML-N delegation- reached the Bhutto house in Naudero yesterday (Saturday) where she was received by Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, Asifa Bhutto, Faryal Talpur and Sherry Rehman.

Among the PML-N’s delegation were Captain (retd) Safdar Awan, Marriyum Aurangzeb, Pervez Rashid, Muhammad Zubair and Miftah Ismail, Shah Muhammad Shah, Sania Ashiq and Musadik Masood Malik.

According to Express, the PPP would host a dinner in honour of the PDM leaders at Bhutto House in Naudero after the rally, whereas a luncheon would also be hosted tomorrow on December 28.

The PML-N’s vice president also addressed a PML-N workers’ convention in Sukkur a day before wherein she hit back at Prime Minister Imran Khan for claiming that opposition parties were pressuring military establishment into toppling his ‘elected government’.

“First you need to keep this thing in your mind that your government is not elected. Secondly, opposition parties do not need to ask the army to overthrow your government,” she said. “We don’t need to ask anyone. We have the power of people [to remove you].”