Maryam, Bilawal face-off persists

LAHORE/KARACHI: The marriage of convenience between the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz and Pakistan People’s Party has finally come under severe strain after the election of Yusuf Raza Gilani as the Opposition Leader in the Senate with the former feeling that it has been cheated and sidelined.

PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz Saturday aired her anger and frustration with the PPP saying it had sacrificed everything for a minor, inconsequential office.

"I am glad that they are now calling the PDM's narrative Maryam Nawaz's narrative," she said while addressing a press conference in Lahore.

"Our narrative is out there for the entire country to see. It is Nawaz Sharif's narrative; it is the narrative of democracy, of law and the Constitution," she said.

"I am glad that a visible line has been drawn and that everyone recognizes who is standing where," she said, referring to the events that transpired on Friday.

"On the one side, there are those who are sacrificing their own wellbeing for the public and their right to rule, and are not willing to show any weakness, on the other side are those who have sacrificed all their principles for the smallest of gains and are willing to forego the law and the Constitution," she continued.

Asked what her party's strategy would now be; what holds for the future of the PDM; and if the events of a day earlier marked the PPP's departure from the PDM, Maryam avoided giving a definitive answer, but made her displeasure known.

"I am waiting for the PDM President Fazlur Rahman to make his position on this matter public. However, I deeply regret that despite understanding the situation and despite having the wisdom, you [Gilani] have dealt a massive blow to democracy, our cause and the public's struggle for their right to rule for a very minor and inconsequential office."

"I also feel this damage has been done primarily to you, because the people are watching who is standing where and who is continuing to struggle," she continued.

"This is not the PDM's defeat, of which the PML-N remains a part. It is the defeat of the people who sacrificed their principles for an inconsequential office," Maryam said.

"What good is a leader of opposition anyway? It's not like we could have formed a government with it even if the PML-N got the post. This is a very meaningless, very transitionary victory, and I regret that for this small gain, you have taken votes from the Balochistan Awami Party (BAP)," Maryam criticised.

"If you really wanted this meaningless and inconsequential post, you should have asked Nawaz Sharif for it," she said, addressing the PPP.

"He gave you all 83 of his party's votes in the National Assembly to elect Yousaf Raza Gilani. If he can also give you all 17 of his senators for the Senate chairman's election, he [Nawaz Sharif] would have given this to you as well if you had just asked him for it."

"Instead you took votes from the BAP! The same BAP that doesn't side with anyone without its patrons' blessing."

Maryam went on to claim that Azam Nazeer Tarar had received a phone call from the Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani offering him support of three or four BAP senators for his candidature.

“I don't need your votes. I am with my party and my party has a position which I will not betray. I cannot betray the PDM," she said quoting Tarar.

"This is the first time in Pakistan's 73-year history — probably in the history of the entire world, that the leader of the opposition has been elected — rather selected — by government senators."

"Have you ever seen this happen?"

"If you feel that the public will not know [what you've done] if you call them [BAP senators] 'independents', then I think you're only fooling yourself," she said, referring to a press conference a day earlier in which Gilani had explained his party's rationale and reasons for securing the post.

"If you want to be subservient; if you want to be selected, then you should follow Imran Khan, who does this stubbornly and shamelessly. You can't be both here and there — sometimes in the opposition and sometimes in the government," she continued.

"You should accept openly that you have taken orders from the [BAP's] patrons, accepted them and used them."

"When you no longer believe you have public support, and feel that there is no way to get power without being selected, it means you have lost the power of the vote," she said.

Meanwhile, Chairman Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Bilawal Bhutto Zardari Saturday said it was their right to secure the position of opposition leader in the Senate.

He said this while speaking at a press conference at the Bilawal House here.

Bilawal said his party could not support the candidature of the PML-N candidate [for the position of opposition leader] Azam Nazeer Tarar, as he was counsel for the accused nominated in Benazir Bhutto murder case.

The PPP chairman said he had not earlier expected that the PML-N would react like Khan Sahib (PM Imran Khan) when its candidate failed to get the slot of opposition leader.

He said the term “selected” was coined by him, as he knew better against whom this term could be used and against whom it couldn’t be [used].

He demanded that other members of the federal cabinet and prime minister should follow suit of Special Assistant to the Prime Minister (SAPM) Nadeem Babar.

He said Punjab could not be left at the mercy of a “puppet's puppet” adding that Hamza Shahbaz had the first right over the Punjab government, but if he was not made chief minister, then the option was to talk to Chaudhry brothers.

Bilawal said decisions regarding the PDM would be taken in a meeting of the PPP Central Executive Committee on April 5.

The PPP chairman said he would not respond to the allegations of PML-N, as he respected Maryam Nawaz and other PML-N leaders and wanted no damage to the Pakistan Democratic Movement.

He said according to the constitutional and democratic traditions, the PPP was the second largest party in the Senate with 21 senators, so it was its democratic right to have the post, while the PML-N's candidate was controversial.

Bilawal said on the issue of leader of the opposition in the Senate, his party leaders felt that the PPP was being pushed against the wall and it was unfortunate that one party showed stubbornness.

He termed the State Bank Ordinance unconstitutional and a serious attack on the economic sovereignty of the country and demanded that the government withdraw it immediately because the State Bank should be answerable to Pakistanis instead of the IMF. He said they would challenge this illegal ordinance at every forum.

Bilawal said the economic agreements made by the government with the IMF were not in the interest of people and done in a wrong way.

“The current government does not have the capacity to represent and negotiate with the IMF on the country's economy,” he said.

Talking about the removal of Nadeem Babar, he said there was fuel crisis in Pakistan when petrol was getting cheaper all over the world.

“The people who made the decision in this regard were not just a special assistant or an individual, but it was the collective decision of the federal cabinet,” he added. He said the decision was taken by Prime Minister Imran Khan and the previous day he tried to save himself by scapegoating Nadeem Babar.

“All those who took the decision in the cabinet should also be removed and all should resign,” he demanded.

Bilawal said the third wave of Covid-19 was sweeping through the country and the pandemic was spreading rapidly in the Punjab due to which the anniversary of Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto would be celebrated at district level with SOPs.