Bilawal seeks tripartite dialogue on terror

PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on Friday demanded the government to initiate tripartite dialogue with neighbouring countries to curb the menace of re-surging terrorism.

“The suicide attack in Karachi is a reminder that the menace of terrorism is once again rising in Pakistan. The federal and provincial governments will have to take action against terrorists and ensure to engage the neighbouring countries to take action against them,” the PPP chief said while talking to the media outside the Parliament House.

The PPP chief said that as a foreign minister he had held a tripartite dialogue at the foreign ministry among the foreign ministers of China, Afghanistan and Pakistan, adding, “We should have similar efforts to eliminate terrorists.”

Bilawal welcomed the action taken by the National Assembly speaker against opposition members over trying to disrupt the parliamentary proceedings.

He criticised the opposition lawmakers belonging to the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), saying that PPP was not afraid of any “forest monkeys”, rather these people were afraid of an unarmed girl, Aseefa Bhutto Zardari, therefore, they resorted to ruckus during her oath taking in the National Assembly.

“The [Pakistan] Peoples Party is never afraid of such tactics. For three generations we have fought against dictators like Gen Zia and Gen Musharraf and have defeated them through democracy. We will still face them democratically,” Bilawal said.

The PPP chief stressed that people's representatives should fulfill their responsibilities but regretted that the current the opposition did not want to play its due role in parliament. Instead, he added the opposition’s objective was to take NRO – a reference to political amnesty granted by Gen Musharraf in 2007 – for their leader.

The PPP chief stressed that people's representatives should fulfill their responsibilities but regretted that the current the opposition did not want to play its due role in parliament. Instead, he added the opposition’s objective was to take NRO – a reference to political amnesty granted by Gen Musharraf in 2007 – for their leader.

“The opposition's style of protest was undemocratic. Their behavior undermined the sanctity of the house. Unfortunately, because of their behavior, the speaker was forced to suspend the membership of the two opposition members.”

Bilawal praised the address of President Asif Zardari, who is also the co-chairman of the PPP, to the joint sitting of parliament on Thursday. “The Peoples Party made history yesterday and President Zardari addressed the joint session for the record seventh time yesterday,” he said.

“President Zardari highlighted the issues, whose resolution is the need of the hour. President Zardari gave the message yesterday that we have to forge unity to solve the problems of Pakistan. We should think of the country instead of our political differences. We should think about this people.”

When asked about Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI) chief Maulana Fazlur Rahman’s announcement of protest in Sindh, Bilawal said that Fazl had been given a wrong impression by his party people that he lost the elections in Sindh because of rigging. “He should protest in Dera Ismail and Peshawar and not in Sindh.”