PTI chief avoids voting: Will Imran reprimand himself, asks Bilawal

THATTA: Pakistan People's Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has said both Nawaz Sharif and Imran Khan have never respected Parliament and now they are giving sermons about the dignity of the legislature.

This he said while talking to media just after launching the mangrove plantation drive at Keti Bandar on Thursday. Bilawal asked Imran “While, he has removed 20 MPAs of the KPK Assembly from his party for not casting vote for the PTI candidates, what action will Imran take against himself for not voting in the Senate elections. He said as a matter of fact Imran should also resign from the party.” Besides, how those changing loyalties will work with the most incompetent when they failed to work with the incompetent, he said in reference to those PML-N leaders joining the PTI.

Talking about Nawaz Sharif’s campaign for restoring the sanctity of vote, the chairman said “during his tenure as a prime minister he hardly attended the assembly session for six times and now he is talking about sanctity of vote,” he said. Replying to a question about Nadeem Afzal Chan joining the PTI, Bilawal Bhutto said while he was present in our ranks, he had changed his loyalty much before. Those who are loyal with the ideology of the party are and will remain with us, he said.

While speaking to the BBC, Bilawal asked why former president general (retd) Pervez Musharraf does not return and contest the court cases against him. Bilawal said Musahrraf is also accused of bombing and killing the former chief minister of Balochistan, is charged with treason but he is not appearing in any of these trials. He said Musharraf threatened his mother Benazir Bhutto, and added they even presented witnesses in the court but to no avail. He said the DNA records they presented in Benazir's murder case were ignored and it took 10 years for the anti terrorism court to announce the verdict that had to be given within two weeks. Bilawal asked why is Musharraf absconding from the courts if he has nothing to do with his mother's assassination.

During the interview, Bilawal also spoke about terrorism and extremism saying a consolidated plan is required to deal with the twin offences. The PPP chairman believed that reforms in education, police and the judiciary as well as changes in the curriculum could help the state deal with extremism.

To a question, if the party is being run as a personal fiefdom, Bilawal said all the political parties in Pakistan have to rely on dynastic politics to some extent, but the PPP was forced to choose the path. He said if my grandfather and mother were not assassinated, my grandfather would still have been doing politics, my mother would have been in the foreign office and I would have been a student, he said.

While, addressing on the occasion Sindh Chief Minister, Syed Murad Ali Shah, said the road from Thatta to Keti Bandar was constructed by former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto when she launched the Keti Bandar Project. He said his government has made some good progress in development of infrastructure all over Sindh. “Still there is enough space to develop the infrastructure in villages, towns and districts,” he said.

Earlier, Chairman PPP Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah planted mangrove saplings at a small island at Keti Bunder to set a new world record of planting mangroves.

Bilawal Bhutto and Murad Ali Shah were accompanied with provincial ministers, Nisar Khuhro, Nasir Shah, Ghulam Qadir Malkani. The Sindh Forest Department which currently holds the Guinness World Record for planting most trees in 24 hours, is again attempting to create another world record by planting “Most Trees in 24 hours” at Juhi district Thatta on April 19. The current attempt is to plant at least one million mangrove saplings.