‘Imran just curses, Nawaz conspires’

KOTLI SATTIAN: Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on Sunday came down hard on Mian Nawaz Sharif and Imran Khan, vowing to free the people from Raiwind and Banigala. He said Imran’s politics is abusing others and Nawaz Sharif is a conspirator.

Addressing a public rally, Bilawal questioned Nawaz Sharif’s slogan of respecting the vote and said whenever Nawaz faces defeat, he remembers the sanctity of vote but when he is in power, he never gives honour to vote.

“When Nawaz was asking for honouring the vote, his National Assembly (NA) speaker walked out of the assembly in protest against the absence of ministers,” he said. He said, “Mian Sahib (Nawaz) you could be a conspirator but not a revolutionary.” Bilawal said Nawaz declares his opponents as ‘toys’ but he himself has always been a toy, whose key has now been broken. When the key would be fixed, Nawaz will be again dancing to the tunes, he added.

He said Nawaz thinks democracy is linked only to him but his heart was broken when the opening batsman of Ziaul Haq was defeated in the Senate elections, referring to Raja Zafarul Haq.

In an apparent reference to Maryam, Bilawal said, "Look now, we have stopped you." He said Nawaz wanted to use Mian Raza Rabbani as a shield to hide his defeat but Sindh, KP and Balochistan stood together to defeat him. “Balochistan won in the Senate election,” he said.

The PPP chief also questioned the democratic credentials of Nawaz, pointing out his anti-PPP moves in the past such as endorsing former prime minister Yousaf Raza Gilani's ouster by the Supreme Court (SC). “Why Nawaz didnot remember the honour of the vote when he was under the umbrella of dictatorship of Ziaul Haq, when he was in Prime Minister's House, and when he was using the shoulders of Justice (retd) Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry,” he questioned.

The PPP leader also criticised the federal government's plans to privatise state-run Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) and Pakistan Steel Mills (PSM). “The prime minister (Shahid Khaqan Abbasi) portrays himself as a simple man but has proved to be a product of the Ittefaq Foundry as all the routes of the PIA were being closed while AirBlue is getting new routes,” he said.

He announced that the PPP will not allow the sale of PIA and PSM and will protest on the street and in the parliament. Bilawal also criticised the KP government's plan to build a Metro Bus in Peshawar after objecting to similar projects of the Punjab government. He questioned where a billion trees are in the KP, as has been promised by Imran. He said Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Chairman Imran Khan has introduced the terms 'good corrupt' and 'bad corrupt' in politics. Those who are with Imran are good and others bad, he said, sarcastically. He said ‘the good’ were being exposed for using the KP government’s helicopter. Referring to disqualification of Jehangir Tareen, Bilawal said, “Disqualified Tareen, who was the ATM for Imran, is still the party secretary general despite being disqualified by the SC.”

He said Imran in the last five years only hurled abuses on his opponents and took U-turns, predicting that he will take another U-turn and return to cricket shortly as he was good in ball tampering.

“Asif Ali Zardari has taught Imran politics and in the future he will continue teaching him,” he said. Bilawal said the people were asking of Imran where a new KP and his Ehtesab Commission were. “Imran had promised to turn the Chief Minister House into a library but a swimming pool has been constructed there,” he said.

He questioned where the exemplary police of KP were as the murderer of Mashal Khan was still at large. The PPP leader claimed all of the PTI's promises of change could not be realised.

Senior party leaders, including former prime minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf, former Senate chairman Nayyar Hussain Bukhari and former MNA Mehreen Raja were also on the stage.