Bilawal wants Alvi, Naseem to quit over Isa reference

KARACHI: Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on Friday called upon the President and the law minister to resign for the “false reference” against Justice Qazi Faez Isa and took the opportunity to chide the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) for not accepting the PPP’s victory in the NA-249 by-election.

According to Geo News, Bilawal made the remarks in a post-NA-249 victory media briefing. “We demand that the President of Pakistan immediately resign. He has no moral authority to remain in office after signing off on a false reference against an honourable judge of the Supreme Court,” he said. “Everyone must resign. Khan Sahab’s entire cabinet is involved in this crime. They all advised the President to take such a step,” Bilawal said, adding that the President “made an error” and that he “should have exercised his own judgment”.

Bilawal demanded an investigation should be conducted to determine the nature of this “conspiracy which targeted an honourable justice of the Supreme Court of Pakistan [and subjected him to] political victimisation and character assassination”.

Bilawal also spoke at length about the party’s victory in the by-election. He said the PPP’s “historic win” in the NA-249 by-election held a day earlier in Karachi “proves that the people no longer backing the government”.

Bilawal said with the win, the PPP “proved to the naysayers” and the “propaganda peddlers” that “whoever works hard and stands by the poor” will emerge victorious.

The PPP chairman also responded to PML-N’s allegations of PPP stealing the NA-249 election and said that these are “highly regrettable” remarks and must be proved. “Our PML-N friends should learn how to honourably accept defeat when they are defeated fairly and squarely in the electoral process,” he said.