People have no interest in Nawaz: Bilawal

ISLAMABAD: The PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has said the people have no interest in former prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s movement who is endangering the whole system only to save himself.

He said people don’t care why Nawaz Sharif was ousted as they want resolution of issues like poverty and unemployment. “Pakistan is facing serious crisis and people cannot be distracted from what is happening to Nawaz Sharif,” he while addressing a press conference here at Zardari House on Thursday after celebrating Holi festival with the Hindu community. He was flanked by the PPP Vice President Senator Sherry Rehman, Secretary General Syed Nayyer Hussain Bokhari, spokesman Senator Farhatullah Babar, Punjab Secretary General Chaudhry Manzoor and Faisal Karim Kundi.

To a question about the PML-N’s movement of Tehreek-e-Adl and the sanctity of vote, Bilawal said the PPP also wanted judicial reforms but it is not the time for such movement when only three months are remaining in the new elections. “Nawaz Sharif should tell what steps he had taken for this purpose during his three tenures,” he said, and questioned what steps the former premier has taken for strengthening of the Parliament. He said Nawaz Sharif only came to the Parliament four times during his four-year tenure as the prime minister.

When asked about the upcoming elections, the PPP chairman said Nawaz Sharif will contest the polls on the basis of Metro and why he was ousted, while Imran Khan will go to elections with the slogan that Taliban are his brothers. He said the PPP will contest the polls on its slogan of “Roti, Kapra and Makan” and on the people’s issues.

To another question about the accountability process, Bilawal said the PPP is always the target of accountability in the past and it is the first time that others have also been targeted by and that is why they are worried. He said it was Nawaz Sharif who framed fake cases against Shaheed Benazir Bhutto and audio tapes have been leaked in which Shahbaz Sharif and Saifur Rehman were dictating the judge to give sentences to Benazir Bhutto and confiscate her properties.

About the PML-N’s complaints of horse trading in the Senate elections, Bilawal said no one can compete with Nawaz Sharif in this trade. "We will try our best to perform well in the Senate elections and expect to have a PPP candidate as a chairman Senate," he said. Bilawal said the government is aiming to privatise the PIA as Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi owns a private airline.

Earlier, after celebrating Holi festival with Hindu community at Zardari House, Bilawal said the PPP always stood with minorities to celebrate their festivals. He said the PPP wanted to make a prosperous and democratic Pakistan where everyone have equal rights.

Meanwhile, in a meeting with a 15-member delegation of the PIA employees belonging to the Peoples Unity led by Hidayatullah Khan, Bilawal said the party will never allow the privatisation of the PIA and will resist any move towards this end at every platform.

Bilawal said the party was gravely concerned as strong evidence had come to surface during the last five years that faulty policies were deliberately adopted to make the PIA and Pakistan Steel Mills (PSM) incur huge losses running in to hundreds of billions of rupees. “The criminal neglect in running these state-run entities shows that it was by design so that they incur huge liabilities and thereby a false justification was created for their sale at throwaway prices,” he said. Bilawal said the PSM reached the precipice after it was denied gas supply since 2015 and that too at a time when the production was 65 per cent.

He said the PIA had no business plan and floated a thoughtless Premier Service which incurred a loss of nearly Rs3 billion in a few months before the service was discontinued due to severe public criticism. Farhatulllah Babar said the PPP chairman asked the Peoples Unity employees to prepare a comprehensive report on how the national airline was deliberately mismanaged to pave the way for its sale to a private party at a throwaway price. Bilawal said the unannounced yet systematic transfer of lucrative PIA services to a private airline at a time when the chief executive of the country is in aviation industry raised serious questions of conflict of interest which need to be answered.