PDM’s internal rifts to benefit PTI govt, warns Bilawal

Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has cautioned his disgruntled allies that internal rifts within in the opposition parties alliance — Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) — will benefit the ruling PTI.

“I will suggest PDM to take decisions with due diligence and patience… divide and rule is the strategy of non-democratic forces,” he said while addressing a press conference in Sindh’s Jacobabad district on Friday.

Bilawal restrained himself from responding to PML-N’s accusation of maintaining secret ties with the PTI-led government, saying: “We have cordial ties with Maryam Sharif and I don’t want to spoil them”.

However, he reminded the opposition parties that their internal fight will serve no purpose but to strengthen the incumbent regime.

“It will be in favour of PDM and democracy if we [opposition parties] continue to give tough time to the government in parliament,” he reiterated.

The scion of Bhutto dynasty also wished quick recovery to PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz and JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman, saying he wanted them to resume their political activities at the earliest so that the movement to topple the PTI government gains momentum.

On the recent changes in the federal cabinet, Bilawal said despite changing three finance ministers in as many years, PTI government’s economic policies remained the same. “PTI designs economic policies to provide relief to rich and make poor suffer,” he maintained.

He said Prime Minister Imran Khan made his aide on petroleum Nadeem Babar a scape goat “for his own incompetence and corruption”.

The PPP chairman said the last year’s fuel crisis was a mega corruption scandal of this government and his party will raise this issue at all fora. “Imran Khan changes his cabinet members for mere face saving but we will not spare them.”

‘Free and fair elections across Pakistan, not just in Punjab’

Bilawal called on the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to play its role to ensure free and fair elections across the country, and not just in Punjab.

"I am confident that our candidate from Jacobabad [Ijaz Jakhrani] will be declared a winner the next day if ECP blocks the government’s attempts to rig the election like it did in Daska by-poll," he said while speaking about upcoming by-election.

The PPP leader said the PTI-led government has rendered poor helpless due to its flawed and IMF-centric economic policies.

Bilawal said the country was “drowned into sea of inflation” even before the government entered into IMF loan progamme and lamented that even the war-torn country like Afghanistan’s economy was performing better than Pakistan.

'NAB Black Law'

Responding to a question regarding Shaukat Tareen’s refusal to join government’s economic team due to National Accountability Bureau (NAB) case, Bilawal said his party had been advocating since the day one that NAB and economy cannot function together.

He said “NAB black law” was introduced by former military ruler general (retd) Pervaiz Musharraf for political engineering.

The PPP chairman also accused the anti-corruption watchdog of pressuring his party members to change their political loyalties.