No fear, no bowing down, says Zardari

GHOTKI/LARKANA: Pakistan People’s Party Parliamentarians (PPPP) President Asif Ali Zardari Friday warned that no one could scare his party leadership away and assured his supporters that there was nothing to be afraid of.

Addressing a rally here, he asked the participants not to be scared, as “no one can scare us away”.

“A nation that is united and aware of its rights cannot be made to back down. No one can scare your leadership,” Zardari said. “What sin have we committed? The work we have done will be written in the history records. A country only becomes stronger when its people are happy.”

The PPP leader said he would face anyone who attempted to challenge him.

“We have been in opposition even after winning elections [in the past]. We come here to serve the public, not to serve ourselves,” he added.

“It is our party’s philosophy to give rights to the poor first,” the former president reminded.

Zardari is among 172 individuals who have been placed on the Exit Control List by the government. His son and PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and sister Faryal Talpur have also been put on the no-fly list.

Meanwhile, talking to reporters in Larkana, the PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari reposed confidence in the Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah. “He is the best chief minster in Pakistan,” said Bilawal Bhutto. The PPP chairman said he would not make any compromise on the 18th Amendment to the constitution and also denied that his party sought an NRO from the government.

Bilawal criticised the government for not moving against Imran Khan’s sister Aleema Khan and Naeemul Haq and demanded across-the-board accountability in the country.

He said the puppet government had usurped basic human rights of people and undermined the federation. Bilawal said there was a lot of resentment in different parts of the country. The PPP chairman also hinted at launching a protest movement. — Agencies

Our correspondent adds from Islamabad: The PPP Friday expressed its serious reservations about placing the names of its top leadership on the Exit Control List (ECL) saying it was not afraid of conspiracies and media trial.

Asif Ali Zardari, PPPP President; Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, PPP Chairman; Murad Ali Shah, Sindh Chief Minister; and Faryal Talpur are among those placed on the ECL for their alleged involvement in a money laundering and fake bank accounts case.

“The federal government of the PTI has exposed its real face by placing the name of Chairman PPP Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on the ECL, as it is afraid of Bilawal Bhutto Zardari,” said the PPP parliamentary leader in the Senate Sherry Rehman while talking to newsmen at the Parliament House.

Sherry said placing the PPP leadership on the ECL on the martyrdom day of Benazir Bhutto Shaheed was a condemnable act.

“The case against Bilawal Bhutto Zardari was framed when he was one-year-old which shows the ‘Brigade of Gali Gloch’ is afraid of educated Bilawal Bhutto Zardari,” she said.

She said placing the names of parliamentarians on the ECL was an undemocratic move and the democratic system seemed to be changing into a dictatorial rule.

She said the real agenda of the government was not to work for welfare of people but political victimisation.

To a question, she said Asif Ali Zardari was never afraid of going to jail, as he had already spent 12 years behind the bars.

She said the decision of placing names on the ECL was not taken by the Supreme Court but the ‘government of revenge’.

Sherry said Imran Khan removed the name of Zulfi Bokhari from the ECL so that he could accompany him to the foreign visit and the plane remained parked at the airport till removal of Zulfi’s name from the ECL.

She advised Prime Minister Imran Khan that if he wanted to hold accountability then he should first start it from his own house.

Meanwhile, Senator Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar, spokesman for Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, has strongly condemned the government action of placing Bilawal Bhutto's name on the ECL.

He said Imran Khan was following in the footsteps of dictators Zia-ul-Haq and Pervez Musharraf by using anti-democratic means to create hurdles for the PPP. He said the ‘PM-select’ had resorted to petty ways of opposing the PPP by misusing institutions.