Resign and go home, PDM tells Imran

HYDERABAD:

Declaring Prime Minister Imran Khan a “usurper”, the PPP leadership has called for holding snap elections for protecting the country from further damage while also forcefully reiterating the opposition parties’ resolve to march on Islamabad if the premier does not resign by January 31.

“The country and the people can no longer carry the burden of this inept and selected prime minister. If his government is given more time, they will sink the country,

“The PDM [Pakistan Democratic Movement] will lead a long march to Islamabad if Imran Khan doesn’t resign by January 31,” PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said on Sunday.

Bilawal was addressing a huge PDM rally – hosted by the PPP – in Sindh’s Larkana district to commemorate the 13th death anniversary of the slain PPP chairperson Benazir Bhutto.

The PDM – an 11-party opposition alliance formed in September with the avowed aim to dislodge the PTI government – recently concluded the first phase of its anti-government campaign after holding six rallies in all four provinces.

The PDM on December 14 announced that all lawmakers from the opposition parties would submit their resignations from the assembly seats to their respective party leadership by December 31. It also set a deadline for the government to quit by January 31.

In his fiery speech, the PPP chief likened the PDM with the Movement for Restoration of Democracy (MRD) which tried to oust former military ruler General Ziaul Haq.

“Benazir Bhutto had created the MRD alliance and led a movement against General Ziaul Haq. And now we all have formed the PDM. We will bring an end to this illegal, inept and incapable government to restore democratic governance,” Bilawal said.

He asked the supporters to prepare to face the baton charge, teargas shelling and imprisonment as a necessary part of their struggle to revive the true democracy.  

“The business of the selectors and the selected will have to end now,” he said in a derogatory reference to the powers that be and the PTI government.

Bilawal claimed that Imran Khan is neither a representative of the people nor an elected PM. “He is a usurper who has usurped rights of all the Pakistanis.”

He asked how the present dispensation can be considered democratic when opposition parties are denied the right to hold rallies and the protesting teachers and farmers are assaulted and arrested.

The PPP leader claimed that the PTI government has taken record loans from international lenders.

“But where has this borrowed money been spent? Electricity, gas, edible items, medicines – all these things have become more expensive.”

Quoting former Balochistan chief minister Abdul Malik Baloch, who also addressed the event, Bilawal said concerns against existing make-up of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) are justified.

“The CPEC came to Pakistan because of Gwadar and the mountains of Gilgit-Baltistan and not because of Sindh or Punjab. Today the entire Gwadar is being fenced to cut off the local people, the local fishermen from the CPEC benefits,” he said.

Zardari for snap polls

PPP Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari, who also addressed the event through a video link, predicted that the ruling PTI will reduce to a non-entity – like the PML-Q – once its “creators” lose power.

“Could anyone have imagined that [former military ruler] General Pervez Musharraf would be craving to return to the country? Think about it! History has testified that whenever you have worked against democracy, the country has suffered.”

“If you [PM] admit that you are unable to govern the country then why don’t you leave the power and go home. Let’s hold the general election and see who wins,” said Zardari. The former president also advised his party’s supporters to prepare to fill the jails in their protest movement for ousting the PTI.

He reiterated that the rulers will have to choose between the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) and the country’s well being. He alleged that “NAB’s blackmailing is affecting the economy”.

Maryam’s asks establishment to back off

PML-N de facto president Maryam Nawaz – who is the first PML-N leader to ever attend Benazir’s anniversary rallies – stole the show by animated speech.

“We are just telling the selectors to withdraw their support for Imran Khan. Once you withdraw your support, it will be a contest between him and us with the people standing by our side,” she said.

She rebutted the PM’s claims that the PDM is trying to provoke the army against him.

Maryam chastised the premier for his alleged recent avowal that he and his team were not prepared to rule the country. “I ask who the real audience of his confession is. Who are you speaking to as people didn’t bring you to the power.”

The PML-N’s leader said whenever Imran Khan is criticized for inflation, wheat and sugar crises, “LNG robbery” and gas shortage, he responds by telling the nation that the army is standing by him.

Maryam vowed that she and Bilawal will carry forward the legacy of Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif who through the Charter of Democracy (CoD) instilled strong political values in the political system.

“The CoD wasn’t an ordinary charter or some pieces of paper. It was a turning point for the politics in Pakistan.” She recalled that the CoD came to fruition when the PPP and the PML-N completed their five years tenures despite numerous conspiracies to use both the parties against each other.

“When the political parties began to take roots and complete the tenures, the powers which played the divide-and-rule game became uneasy. It was then they collected the political trash and [former ISI chief] General Pasha formed a political party whose name is the PTI.”

Maryam and other political leaders of the PDM paid tribute to Benazir Bhutto and her father former PM and PPP founder Zulfikar Ali Bhutto for their “relentless political struggle and sacrifices”.

BNP-M leader Akhtar Mengal, JUI-F’ Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haideri, JUP’s Awais Noorani, ANP’s Ameer Hoti, QWP’s Aftab Ahmed Sherpao, Sindh CM Murad Ali Shah and other leaders also delivered speeches.