Naya Pakistan without freedom of speech not acceptable: Bilawal

Ag agencies

LAHORE: Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has said that a ‘new Pakistan’ with curbs on freedom of expression was not acceptable to his party.

Speaking as the ‘Guest of Honour’ at the Lahore Press Club on Monday, he said the PPP would stand with the media fraternity during the current hard times.

Bilawal regretted that the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government was bent upon snatching the freedom of expression from the media. He said the ‘sweat and blood’ of journalists was included in the struggle for democracy in Pakistan, but the government, after committing a financial assault on the media, was bent upon snatching its freedom, which was visible in the form of the curbs being imposed on it.

He said the censorship was increasing in the country and the suffocation under the incumbent government, after affecting working journalists, cameramen, produces, media owners was now taking over the bloggers, facebook and twitter. The PPP chairman claimed that the cases against Nawaz Sharif and Asif Ali Zardari had not been instituted due to corruption but political victimisation. Bilawal said no one agreed with the ruling party claims that Nawaz Sharif served the jail term because of corruption. He said political revenge was on the rise during the current dispensation. The incumbent government did not spare even wives and children of the opponents, he added. He expressed the hope that National Accountability Bureau (NAB) would be shut down completely.

Terming Imran Khan a hypocrite, Bilawal said he was not capable of solving issues confronted by the country at its borders. He said Imran Khan used to wish good luck to Narendra Modi during his election campaign, and now he was terming him Hitler.

Since day one, he said the PPP had been exposing the real face of Narendra Modi and the RSS, adding that there was a difference between former Indian prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Narendra Modi.

Modi, he said, had been termed the ‘butcher of Gujarat’. He alleged that Imran Khan was not serious in resolving the Kashmir issue.

To another question about Prime Minister Imran Khan’s performance, the PPP chief said the “selected” was serving his first and the last term in power and he would have to face the music over his acts of political victimisation when an elected government would be running the affairs of the country.

To a question about the government deal with the IMF, Bilawal said it was a PTI-IMF deal which added to woes of the nation. He said the PTI government remained confused over the issue of signing a deal with the IMF and later, it agreed on the conditions which multiplied the troubles of Pakistanis. He demanded Imran Khan renegotiate the terms and conditions with the IMF or go home if he was not capable of handling the situation.

Bilawal said the PPP, after coming to power, would take the nation into confidence over the issue and give a plan for boosting economy.

About the role of the PML-N as an opposition party with all its leadership sitting abroad, he said it was time to struggle together instead of creating differences.

Demanding abolishment of NAB Ordinance as a black law, the PPP chairman said that Prime Minister Imran Khan had unleashed an era of political victimisation in the country. He said even the deceased brother of PPP leader Khursheed Shah had been sent notices from NAB. However, justice was not done to the PPP stalwart Ijaz Jakhrani, who defeated Mohammed Mian Soomro in general elections, but was deprived of the mandate in the ‘selection process.’ He said that the country was not being run through people’s will, but instructions from some umpire, adding that NAB and economy could not go side by side.

He said Benazir Bhutto and Asif Ali Zardari were cleared of all cases made against them, but Shaheed Bibi could not remain alive to see courts doing justice to her.

He said the PPP was still awaiting justice in the case of judicial murder of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. He expressed the hope that institutions meant to provide justice would do justice to people instead of turning themselves into ‘dam construction’ bodies.

The PPP chairman said that People’s Party increased the salaries and pensions of the employees, but the incumbent government, they were not being paid even their monthly dues. He said the PPP introduced projects like Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) to counter challenges like poverty, unemployment, but under Imran Khan, people were facing serious economic issues.

To a question about the criticism of PPP founder Zulfikar Ali Bhutto by Railways Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, he said a ‘Gutter Minister’ like him should immediately go home as record number of accidents had taken place under him.

Expressing optimism over the peace agreement between the US and Taliban, Bilawal called for involving Afghan people in the deal without which, the legitimacy of the process would remain under question. He said his party had always been the strong advocate of peace in the region and solution to the core issues through dialogue. However, he said in the deal between the USA and Taliban, the people of Afghanistan should also be included.

He said without involvement of the people of Afghanistan, the legitimacy of the process would continue to be questioned. He said a hope of peace in Afghanistan could be nursed from this dialogue process but if it was done for the election of US President Donald Trump, it was not a positive step.

He said that peace in the region was important than the election of US President Donald Trump, who was going to run for the presidential polls for the second term now.

To a question about the demand made by the PTI circles about awarding Nobel Peace Prize to Prime Minister Imran Khan over his role in the US-Taliban deal, Bilawal said Imran Khan knew nothing [about foreign affairs] in the past, he didn’t know anything at present and he would not know anything in future. He said that during the PML-N and the PPP eras, Siraj Haqqani was considered a 'bad' guy, but now, through a Tweet of the US president, the dialogue process had been initiated with the same person.

LPC President Arshad Ansari, in his address, accorded a warm welcome to the PPP chairman and hailed the contribution of the PPP leadership to cause of democracy and Pakistan. He said Shaheed Benazir Bhutto visited Lahore Press Club in 1994 and supported the Lahore Press Club and media fraternity.