Goodbye Mian Sahib, this is your last turn: Bilawal

Says doesn’t know where Sharifs will be after 2018; warns of long march after 27th; Aitzaz accuses PML-N govt of giving contracts to foreign companies for huge commissions

LAHORE: Pakistan People’s Party Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said on Tuesday the Sharifs should realise that this is their last turn and they will be either in jail or in Saudi Arabia in future.

Bilawal warned the PML-N government of a long march after Dec 27 in case it did not meet his party’s four demands. He addressed the concluding ceremony of celebrations that were underway for the past five days in connection with the PPP’s 49th Foundation Day.

Bilawal said a long march would be announced if his party’s demands were not met by the government. He added that he had come to the Punjab to take democratic control of the province. “Go Nawaz Go slogan did not originate from any city in Sindh, Mian Sahib it started from your own home,” Bilawal said.

The PPP chairman announced the PPP’s schedule for the next six months. The party will run a ‘Go Nawaz Go’ campaign for three months and an election campaign for three months. “Mian Sahib you will be in jail, Saudi Arabia or somewhere else in 2018,” Bilawal added.

In his address, Bilawal said that remains of dictator Ziaul Haq’s regime were still in place in the Punjab. “Bye Bye Mian Sahib, this is your last turn.” He said: “I do not know where the Sharifs will be after 2018.” He reiterated that the PPP was to democratically occupy politics of Punjab in the near future. The Sharifs were needed to be told that this was their last ‘turn’, Bilawal added.

Bilawal said that shortcomings of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) would be highlighted in the first three months and electioneering would be done in the next three months. Those who contested the elections on promises revolving around power outages had doubled the tariff in their tenure, he said.

The PPP chairman said that minorities were being discriminated against in the PML-N government while people were losing jobs as industries were shutting down. He held the PML-N’s foreign policy responsible for alleged seclusion of Pakistan in the world.

The PPP chairman said the ‘Raiwind foreign policy’ had isolated Pakistan in the entire world. He said Asif Ali Zardari restored democracy in the country but Zia’s legacy was still visible in the form of ‘Takht-e-Raiwind’ in Punjab. He said the PPP wanted to strengthen Pakistan while fostering peace in the country and this was also the crux of its foreign policy.

Thanking party stalwarts from the Punjab for according him a warm welcome during his tour of Lahore, Bilawal said if the party workers from Punjab, Sindh, Balochistan, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Kashmir joined hands with him, the PM would either be in jail or Saudi Arabia by 2018.

Continuing his tirade against Nawaz, Bilawal said a historic mega scandal of corruption in the form of Panama Leaks had clutched the premier who was now hiding behind the Qatari prince.

Slamming the Sharif brothers, he said they remained interested in setting up steel mills and running metro buses but paid no attention to roofs of schools, were unable to end load-shedding and stop factories’ closure.

He said hospitals in Punjab were in horrible state where there were not enough beds for patients and doctors were on strike. He asked where Danish schools, Ashiyana Housing or ‘sasti roti’ scheme were. He said the country’s economy had dwindled but the rulers were spending lavishly on their personal comforts.

He said there would be ‘Dama Dam Mast Qalandar’ after December 27 as it was time to tell the Sharifs that this was their last tenure. Former prime minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf, Opposition Leader in the National Assembly Khursheed Shah, central leader Aitzaz Ahsan, president PPP central Punjab Qamar Zaman Kaira and secretary information Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar also spoke on the occasion.  

Agencies add: Addressing Jiyalas, Senator Aitzaz Ahsan said the Sharif brothers were taking benefits from a lacuna in the Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA) laws and awarded huge contracts to foreign companies for hefty commissions. He pointed out that our Metro cost eight times more than similar Metro services in Indian cities of Amritsar and Ahmedabad.

Aitzaz said the Sharif brothers were ruling for 30 years and they had developed a nexus of personal relations with the world’s richest families and they used their influence whenever caught to wriggle out from punishments and convictions.

Khursheed Ahmad Shah, leader of the opposition in the National Assembly (NA), said on the occasion that people were told lies by the government for personal interests of the rulers and power.

He said the PML-N government asked the premier and Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif about their promises of ending power outages within six months. He also demanded the government to report the progress made in ‘Sasti Roti Scheme.

Later, Bilawal took to the stage during a musical performance of famous folk singer Arif Lohar. After Bilawal’s address, scenes of chaos and disorder were witnessed in the rally. Police baton-charged the party workers to disperse them.