‘People of Punjab will reject politics of hypocrisy’, PPP hits out at PML-N

Chairman of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari has lashed out at the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), saying that the people of Punjab will reject the politics of "hypocrisy."

Addressing a workers’ convention in Rahimyar Khan on Thursday, Bilawal said that the political parties using the slogan vote ko izzat do (give respect to mandate) should use their votes and dislodge Usman Buzdar, the chief minister of Punjab.

He said that if the opposition parties do nothing against the Buzdar government, it will prove that their politics is neither of resistance nor of reconciliation but of hypocrisy.

"The people of Punjab will reject the politics of hypocrisy. Dual politics does not stand a chance. Either you have to challenge the incapable, failed and illegitimate government or have to accept that you are the facilitator of this selected government," the PPP leader said in an apparent reference to the PML-N large number of members in the provincial assembly.

Also read: PPP will form govt in Centre, Punjab: Bilawal

"You have to send the Buzdar government home and then the selected prime minister will flee automatically. On one hand, you talk about respecting votes and on the other, you do not want to use your votes."

Bilawal said that his party is gaining popularity by the day and will form the next government not only in the centre but also in Punjab province.

The people of Pakistan, he said, are yearning for a change. "They have experienced the PML-N and are now experiencing the government of Imran Khan. They are able to distinguish the difference between the performance of these two governments and the performance of the PPP government in the past. Now a former sportsman is destroying our country."

The PPP chairman recalled the leadership of former prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, saying that he gathered the entire Muslim world in Lahore. "When he visited the United States, the US president said that ‘if you were a US citizen, you would have been a part of my cabinet’, the Quaid-e-Awam had replied that if he was a US citizen, he would have been the US president."

Also read: PPP welcomes PDM in Karachi: Bilawal

He lamented that now the situation is that the foreign minister and other high officials are visiting the US and "begging" for a telephone call.

He added that the puppet prime minister has not fulfilled a single promise whether it be the promise of 10 million jobs or 5 million houses. "During the PPP government 2008-13, we made Pakistan an exporter of wheat, sugar and rice but during this incapable government Pakistan is buying the crops of the growers of other countries and our own growers are suffering."

Bilawal said that there is a historic price hike, unemployment and poverty during the PTI government. "When we faced inflation, we started BISP to empower women. We increased salaries up to 120 per cent and pensions up to 100 per cent. This callous government has sacked 10,000 workers of the Steel Mills and recently sacked 20,000 employees from federal government departments."

He added that the PPP is the only party that provides employment whereas the PML-N and PTI snatch employment from the people.

"We have the responsibility to provide employment to the people which we will do and we will also train people for jobs," he further said.