Bilawal says PPP supports Maulana

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has said that his party supports Maulana Fazlur Rehman, but will withdraw its support if it suspects that the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief is acting on the behest of some other force.

"I hope that the Maulana's long march will be successful," said Bilawal, who was speaking to the media at his father's court hearing into the fake bank accounts case.

"It was the PPP and PML-N's desire to do a joint political gathering or a procession, but the Maulana has announced a long march. We have called a party meeting to decide how far we can go in supporting him," he said.

In response to a question about his political strategy, Bilawal said that his party would support Fazlur Rehman at every level except for his plan to stage a sit-in. The PPP chairman said his party workers want him to get rid of the incumbent government. He said he would support all political protests but will not take any measures that could hurt the country.

Bilawal predicted that the federal government would try and attack the Sindh government in response to his party’s protests, but warned that “they will not be successful.” Bilawal described the case against his father Asif Ali Zardari as a “circus”, accusing their detractors of only making up stories regarding “billions of rupees when there is no reference, no evidence and not even a (real) case”.

The PPP chairman made it clear that he and his party would bear everything, but will not compromise on principles, including his party’s stand on the 18th Amendment.

He alleged that this government has come to power as a result of rigged elections and it will have to go packing. He said that discussions with other political parties are continuing and the PPP believes that election reforms are essential before the next polls. “The PPP stand had always been that the Panama issue should have been resolved in the Parliament, but unfortunately, neither the PML-N nor the PTI supported us,” he said.

Bilawal said everyone has seen how Imran Khan and his government has been exposed in front of the people. “The person who used to talk about justice and rule of law has not only arrested his political opponents, but their women as well,” he said.

The PPP chairman said Prime Minister Imran Khan promised to provide 10 million jobs, but he has made thousands of young people unemployed in one year. He said Imran Khan had also promised to construct five million houses, but razed millions of houses to the ground and has not provided a single house. “This government is a liar government which has usurped the economic and democratic rights of the people,” he said, adding that this government has made the Parliament redundant and the people are drowning in the tsunami of price-hike and have been pushed in the quagmire of taxes.

Bilawal said the business community is so much worried that it approached the army chief Thursday, saying that their businesses are in trouble.

“Our third generation is being dragged in Rawalpindi. What is so special about Rawalpindi that Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was hanged in this city, Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto was assassinated in this city and now the cases of PPP leadership are being trialed in the same city,” he said.

He said the government is trying to pressurise the PPP by false accusations. He said Asif Zardari has been imprisoned for eleven and a half years without any conviction and he is still ready to bear their pressure and heavy handed tactics.