GHIZAR/LAHORE/ISLAMABAD: Chairman of Pakistan People’s Party Bilawal Bhutto Zardari Sunday said Prime Minister Imran Khan had all the characteristics of a hypocrite.
“Someone has come to Gilgit-Baltistan to fool the people, but they recognise the person who calls the opposition hypocrite whereas he himself has all the characteristics of a hypocrite. A hypocrite does not fulfil his promises; he tells lies consistently and he uses foul language and never keeps his words; and this person is selected and puppet Prime Minister Imran Khan,” he said while addressing a corner meeting in Ghizar in connection with his party's election campaign.
Former governor Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) Qamar Zaman Kaira, Sohrab Khan Marri, Dr Karim Khawaja and Qasim Naveed were also present.
Bilawal said Imran Khan alleged that the opposition had a narrative similar to India’s, but he himself was praying for the success of Narendra Modi in elections.
He said Imran Khan issued an ordinance for giving relief to Indian spy Kulbhushan Jadhav in the darkness of night to hide his action from the parliament and the people of Pakistan.
He said Imran Khan gave NRO [deal] to his sister Aleema Khan, who made huge properties in the United States. “He gave NRO to sugar thieves, flour thieves, thieves who stole [money] from the BRT,” he said. Bilawal said Imran Khan only talked about accountability of the opposition. “We want an across-the-board accountability in which one law should be for everyone, including judges and generals,” he said.
He said corruption had increased during the last two years of Imran Khan as the ‘selected and puppet prime minister’.
He said some people were talking of a separate province of Gilgit-Baltistan today, but the PPP had been striving for a separate province for the people of Gilgit-Baltistan for a long time and it had included the demand in its 2018 election manifesto. “Now, Nov 15 is the day when you will vote for the PPP to get your right to rule, right to own property, right to choose the prime minister and right to have a separate province,” he said.
Bilawal said the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) was brought to Pakistan by the PPP government, but now everyone wanted to take credit for it.
“CPEC was conceived by former president Asif Ali Zardari so the backward areas of Pakistan like Gilgit-Baltistan, FATA and Balochistan were developed and the fruit of CPEC was given to the poor people of Pakistan,” he said.
He paid rich tribute to the brave people of GB for getting their independence from the Dogra Raj with their own struggle and then decided to integrate themselves with Pakistan.
He said afterwards Zulfikar Ali Bhutto liberated the people of Gilgit-Baltistan from the FCR and gave subsidy to the people of Gilgit-Baltistan on food items, petrol and clothes to fulfil the slogan of ‘Roti, Kapra aur Makan’.
Similarly, he said Benazir Bhutto brought democracy to Gilgit-Baltistan, provided jobs and introduced lady health workers programme here.
“Former president Asif Ali Zardari gave assembly, governor and chief minister to the people of Gilgit-Baltistan,” he said.
He said Asif Zardari also started the BISP [Benazir Income Support Programme] in GB so that the poor women get relief.
“This selected prime minister thinks that by removing the photograph of Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto, the people will forget her, but this will never happen because her name is engraved in the hearts of people,” he said.
He said the last PPP government in GB provided 25,000 jobs to the youth of Gilgit-Baltistan.
Meanwhile, addressing a function in Lahore in connection with formation of "Sher Jawan" force on Sunday, PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz said Sher Jawan was a movement to awaken political consciousness among the youth.
“Students are part of this movement,” she said, adding the All India Muslim Students Foundation was founded by Quaid-i-Azam that played a pivotal role in the establishment of Pakistan.
“We are confident that the future of the nation is in your strong hands,” she maintained.
Maryam said the aims and objectives of the establishment of Pakistan had not been implemented even today.
Former speaker National Assembly Sardar Ayaz Sadiq, Khawaja Saad Rafique, Marriyum Aurangzeb, Rana Sanaullah, Pervez Malik, Attaullah Tarar, Azma Bukhari, Nuzhat Sadiq, Pervez Rashid and a large number of students attended the inaugural ceremony.
Maryam said Sher-e-Jawan would be a movement to give political awareness to the youth.
She said the movement had been launched to understand the meaning of the constitution.
“Sher-e-Jawan is a movement make you all feel like a motherland,” she said, adding, “You can't claim your right and remain silent on violation of rights.”
Maryam further said gas supply of billions of rupees was made from Sui in Balochistan. She said scholarships of 600 students of Balochistan were snatched away and she was saddened to see the pictures of Balochistan students on the social media. “The government did not dare to ask the students about their problems. The hair of Balochistan students was covered with mud and they were drowsy due to lack of rest. This is slavery,” she went on to say.
Maryam alleged that the Sindh IG was kidnapped for hours and Captain (R) Safdar was arrested by placing him in a van and snatching his phone. She alleged that the IG was told that he did not arrest Captain Safdar, he cannot go.
“My room lock was broken and state terrorism was carried out. Is the dignity of daughters not safe? The Constitution is a book of rights. What is written in the constitution?” she asked, and said one should read the Constitution and then tell her what were the demands of Nawaz Sharif.
“If any demand of the former PM is against Constitution, then neither support Nawaz Sharif nor Maryam Nawaz. He is talking about the rule of Constitution,” Maryam said.
“We have decided not to blame the uniform. This is the same uniform that is used to protect Siachen. We have to identify the characters who have tarnished the uniform,” Maryam said.
She said Nawaz Sharif believed that the mandate of the people had been stolen.
“If the three-time prime minister can appear before the accountability courts, then why there is a sacred cow. No one has landed from the sky. Everyone has to answer,” she said.
She said Nawaz Sharif talked about independence of judiciary and media.
“The media is taught a lesson that those who refuse to learn a lesson would be put in jail,” she said.
Maryam said when the vote was honoured, laptops and scholarships were given and new schools, colleges and universities were opened.
“When the vote is honoured, 22 hours of load shedding and terror ends, the enemy of Pakistan walks and sits in the bus and comes to the house of prime minister, inflation comes to the lowest level and the GDP is 5.8.”
However, she said, when the vote was not respected, the universities close, bread, sugar, flour get expensive, healthcare facilities are closed, problems increase and Kashmir goes out of hand and government borrows Rs17,000 billion.
PML-N Secretary Information Marriyum Aurangzeb Sunday said Muhammad Nawaz Sharif, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and the people of Pakistan were not crossing any red lines or boundaries but were drawing constitutional red lines.
Talking to the media in Islamabad, she said unless those constitutional red lines were clear, the problems of Pakistan and its people would not end.
“It has been 14 days since the Karachi attack on Marriyum Nawaz Sharif’s room but no report has been submitted so far,” she said, reminding that Chief of Army Staff Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa had personally committed that the report would come in 10 days.
Marriyum said now was the time for Imran Khan to pack up because the nation had decided to rid the country of selected, RTS meddling-based vote-robbing government. She said Imran should take his rented mouthpieces with him on his way out.
She said the PTI government destroyed jobs, economy and stole the people's gas and electricity. She asked the prime minister to stop threatening the opposition and the people and worry about his future.
“The country is being ruled by terrorists and fascists. Sugar is selling at Rs110 per kg, not at Rs52. Today, poor people are buying flour for Rs80, not at Rs35. The economy, which was growing at 5.8 percent, has reached a negative 0.4 percent today, according to official figures. Vote thief cannot fix the economy, let alone the institutions. The vote thief who hides behind institutions uses their name to cover his failed politics and uses their shoulders to fire his guns of vengeance. The nation knows what Imran said against the institutions and ISI before he became the prime minister”.
Marriyum said an unidentified so-called “Pakistani patriot” planted a banner of treason against Ayaz Sadiq on the Mall in Lahore.
“Sometimes, anonymous patriots petition against Shahbaz Sharif and sometimes anonymous Pakistani patriots distribute fatwas and certificates of treason to Ayaz Sadiq,” she continued.
She slammed shamelessly putting up Ayaz Sadiq’s posters on the Indian flags alongside Narendra Modi.
“If Ayaz Sadiq is not a patriot, then no one is. There is no greater patriot than Ayaz Sadiq. As the speaker of the House, he did not lock the parliament like this government. He did not stifle the voices of political opponents like this government.”
Meanwhile, Federal Minister for Communication Murad Saeed Sunday said the opposition’s meetings with diplomats and lobbyists were to make the security agencies controversial and to present the corrupt as the champions of democracy.
Addressing a press conference in Islamabad, he said the world had termed Prime Minister Imran Khan’s strategy against coronavirus ideal but the opposition politicized it too.
He said it was due to the opposition that Pakistan went on the gray list.
“These people were demanding NRO under the guise of FATF legislation,” he said.
“February 27 was a victory for every Pakistani, not just for the army and the government. This day was celebrated by Pakistanis all over the world,” he said.
“On this day, Pakistan reduced India’s pride to dust. The Indian government and the media were stunned. Future generations of India will also remember it but these people are trying to make Pakistan’s victory controversial.”
He asked Nawaz Sharif why he did not meet the Hurriyat leaders and who was afraid of the Kargil war. Why he remained silent on the case of Kulbhushan Jadhav and who benefited from this.
