Bilawal seeks Punjab’s support to oust PM

PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on Sunday sought Punjab’s support to oust Prime Minister Imran Khan, saying that the premier would not find a place to hide if the province backed his party.

Warning the premier of the PPP long march to be held on February 27, Bilawal said he would go to the people and tell them it was vital for the country to rid it of PM Imran. “He [PM Imran] should not remain in parliament because he has lost the confidence of the people,” he added while addressing a public gathering at Sial Sharif on the occasion of former PTI ticket holder from NA-92, Pir Sahibzada Naeemunddin Sialvi, formally joining the PPP along with his associates.

The PPP chief said economic, political and human rights were under attack at the hands of “this puppet” (PM Imran). “If the people of Punjab support the PPP like they had supported Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto, then Imran Khan will have no place to hide.”

The PPP chairman said Bhutto gave the party four principles and his mother added another one. “Islam is our religion, democracy is our politics, equality is our economy, all powers belong to the people and martyrdom is our goal… these are the five principles,” Bilawal listed them down while welcoming Sialvi to “the party of martyrs”.

The PPP chairman said his grandfather and mother had turned the PPP into the voice of the people and gave them their rights while facing dictators including General Ayub, General Zia and General Musharraf. “Now, we will start our march from Karachi to dislodge this puppet Imran Khan and put our demands before everyone in Islamabad.”

Also read: PPP to clean up ‘garbage in Islamabad’: Bilawal

Accusing the government of destroying the country in the name of change, Bilawal said the PPP knew that the deal with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) was not in the interest of the people as it compromised over the country’s sovereignty.

The PPP chairman said PM Imran had failed to keep all his pre-election promises, be it the 10 million jobs or five million houses. “In fact, the premier rendered people jobless and made them homeless in the pretext of removing encroachments.”

Bilawal claimed that “the selected [PM]” had come to power by saying that corruption would be eradicated but during the last three years, it had reached record-breaking heights.

“The Transparency International has said that there is historic corruption during this government,” he said, saying the “puppet and his ministers” were saying that the economy was progressing but the people were not ready to listen to their lies anymore. “Imran Khan is responsible for this historic price hike,” he added.

Bilawal said the PPP had held Kissan marches all over the country to express solidarity with the farmers, who he claimed were now running from pillar to post for a bag of urea. Further regretting that the growers did not get the appropriate support prices for their crops, Bilawal said that the government had destroyed the country’s farm sector, which was the backbone of the economy.

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He said that whenever the PPP was in power -- from the time of Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto to Shaheed Benazir Bhutto and President Asif Ali Zardari -- it gave relief to growers, labourers, students, pensioners and the salaried class while dealing with poverty, unemployment and price hike.

He claimed that during the worst recession in the world, the PPP had introduced the Benazir Income Support Programme and increased salaries and pensions. “This brutal government has neither increased salaries and pensions, nor given the growers the right prices for their crops.”