Bilawal lampoons Imran for protecting corrupt

PPP chairman warns PM against lying about opposition leadership

PARACHINAR:

Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has fired a broadside at Prime Minister Imran Khan at a public gathering in the Kurram district of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P), accusing him of protecting the corrupt elements and running an inefficient government.

Bilawal told the rally in Parachinar that he knew whom Usman Buzdar paid money to to become the Punjab chief minister, warning the prime minister to “stop telling lies” about the opposition, otherwise, he would “start exposing the details of the corruption of the first lady”.

لائیو: پاکستان پیپلز پارٹی کا پارا چنار میں جلسہ عام@BBhuttoZardari#Parachinar https://t.co/8tH2ftpoZc

— PPP (@MediaCellPPP) March 26, 2022

“Imran himself is caught red-handed in foreign funding corruption and now he is playing with the democracy of the country,” Bilawal said. “All his [Imran’s] associates are corrupt. Imran did not run his kitchen. Imran did not want rule of law in this country,” he added.

“Imran sings corruption mantra all the time but never arrested a single corrupt person. He closed down the accountability institution in K-P. He gave amnesty to all his ATMs. He gave amnesty to his sister, who made billions with a sewing machine and bought buildings in the United States and other countries.”

The PPP chairman said that the people of Pakistan were paying the price of Imran's inability and incapacity. “Now, the time has come to get rid of this puppet Imran, who has given relief to the rich and troubles to the poor. There is no money [for the poor] but he gives relief to his ATMs,” he added.

“The grower did not get the return for his crops. Imran's economic policy is of historic price-hike, unemployment and abject poverty. He has harmed the foreign policy of Pakistan. The [Pakistan] Tehrek-e-Insaf [PTI] has done injustices with the people of Pakistan,” he continued.

Read The once great Kaptaan will go down like a rat on a sinking ship: Bilawal

The PPP chief accused the prime minister of lying and making false promises. All his promises of 10 million jobs and five million houses were false. “Imran used to say that he will not approach the IMF [International Monetary Fund] and will commit suicide if he did so but he struck a deal [with IMF].”

Bilawal mocked the prime minister, who used to give derogatory names to the opposition leaders, saying that “diesel” was the actual name of Imran Khan, because in his tenure fuel prices sky-rocketed, adding: “Imran is a boot licker.”

At the rally, he hailed strong political credentials of the PPP. “The PPP may be the third largest party in parliament, but in character it is the number one party in Pakistan. This is the party of the common man, the labourers, the growers, the youth, the students, the women and the children,” he said.

“We defeated Imran Khan in every by-election and local government election. We defeated Imran in his own constituency,” he added, while referring to the election of PPP’s Yousuf Raza Gilani on a Senate seat in the National Assembly in March last year.

“The PPP worked hard and now the entire opposition is on one page. We all have tabled a no-confidence motion and this coward Imran is running away from the contest in the National Assembly. Show some sportsmanship, if you do not have 172 votes then go and sit in Bani Gala.”

On a personal note, Bilawal also responded to Imran’s criticism of his Urdu. “Imran says that I do not know Urdu. Yes my Urdu is weak. My Urdu is weak at the age of 30 but Imran's Urdu is weak even after 70 years.

“Imran should teach Urdu to his three children.” He said, “We have numerous languages in Pakistan and they are all spoken by the people of this nation. We will teach Urdu, English and the mother tongue to every child in the country.”

Highlighting that Imran did not know what would happen to him when he would be removed from the government, Bilawal stressed that after the success of the no-confidence motion, the opposition parties would carry out electoral reforms and pave the way for free and transparent elections in the country.

He promised to fulfil all the promises made by the PPP. He added that Imran Khan would be held accountable for snatching “Benazir Card” from the poor women and for every crime he had committed against the people of Pakistan.