The Foreign Minister asks courts to either offer justice ‘or we will take it by force’
KARACHI: Pakistan Peoples Party Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said on Saturday that a political terrorist, Imran Khan, had set the entire country on fire for fear of going to jail.
Addressing a public meeting, held near Merewether Tower in Karachi to celebrate his party’s victory in the local government election in the city, he condemned the violent demonstrations after the arrest of Imran Khan, calling it terrorism. He regretted that political terrorists set the Jinnah House [Lahore corps commander’s house] on fire. However, he warned that Imran Khan was nothing for his party to handle as they had faced terrorists and defeated them in the past.
Bilawal lamented that the politics of Imran Khan had divided the judiciary, media and the people of Pakistan. He told the participants in the Jalsa that the Peoples Party was ready for the elections in the country as they would defeat their opponents with the power of the ballot.
Bilawal said the new way of conduct of the apex judiciary was tantamount to committing mockery of the law. He alleged that the top judiciary in the country had been transformed into the PTI tiger force.
However, he warned, no organisation or institution would be allowed to act as Imran Khan’s Tiger Force. “They should be aware and work within their limits. Now we will not do traditional opposition and protest. Either you give us justice, or we take it by force,” thundered the foreign minister.
Addressing the PTI chairman, Bilawal said the Peoples Party had fought against every sort of selected politicians, launched in the country. He said they had faced the real terrorists in the country. He recalled that the Peoples Party had stood against the violent politics of the founder of Muttahida Qaumi Movement Altaf Hussain, and competing against Imran Khan was not an issue at all.
He made it clear that supporters of the PPP had never torched sensitive places like the Jinnah House and GHQ. He said the workers of the PPP had resorted to self-immolation as a mode of protest instead of damaging valuable assets in the country.
Bilawal told the audience that former president Asif Ali Zardari spent 12 years in jail, but no chief justice in the country had taken cognisance of the injustice. He said chief justices like the incumbent were not present when Benazir Bhutto had been made to appear in the courts of Larkana and Asif Zardari had to face persecution. “Nobody ever said ‘good to see you’ when Zulfikar Ali Bhutto appeared in the courts,” he recalled.
He expressed surprise that Imran Khan termed himself a daring politician but he didn’t have the courage to come outside without covering his head with a bucket. He said in fact, the PTI chairman hadn’t spent a single night in the prison while an overnight stay at a guest house was intolerable for him.
He said the PTI should distance itself from its militant wing if it wanted to exist anymore as a political party. “We are in favour of dialogue as we have also asked our allies to hold a dialogue. But the dialogue cannot be held with terrorists,” he added.
He expressed gratitude to the people of Karachi and the rest of Sindh for voting in favour of PPP candidates in the local government polls. He said the PPP activists and supporters had buried the culture of politics and hatred in Karachi that was in vogue in the past.