Bilawal asks PM to give three-year record instead of giving lecture

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari Wednesday accused the government for non-serious attitude on electoral reforms and said that the if the government was serious in electoral reforms then the electoral reforms has to be through consensus and unless keep the role of establishment away from election process there would be no success of or benefit of electoral reforms.

“We are ready to work with Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to how to make it powerful on these two points and also ready to work with our opposition parties as Shehbaz Sharif has also invited the opposition parties in Electoral Reforms Conference where the PPP delegation will also go but will not allow the government to rig the elections,“ he said while addressing a press conference along with former prime minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani and Secretary General PPP Parliamentarians Farhatullah Babar here at Zardari House on Wednesday.

Bilawal said if the government was serious in bringing the electoral reforms then it should not have brought the ordinance in darkness of night. “They have taken steps not to stop rigging but for rigging and undermining the Election Commission of Pakistan,” he said. He said if the electoral reforms then it should be through Parliament with engaging every one and by consensus and whenever the electoral reforms were made these were made only through consensus otherwise no one accept. He said, “The government wants to make the Election Commission of Pakistan submissive and weak.” He said if the government was in serious then it should have taken the Parliament with it.

Replying to the question by the journalists Bilawal said that the prime minister should give account for past three years, not say what he will do next. “Now the prime minister has no time, the people will hold him accountable. We will hold you accountable for all these wrongdoings. Instead of telling stories, the speech should tell us the solution to problems,” he said.

He said the prime minister was misleading the people instead of telling stories, in his speech should tell us the solution to problems. “People do not want a lecture on history or Islamic history from Imran Khan and what happens in different parts of the world, you had to give a three year record, you are lecturing us, and you are trying to fool the nation as the people want to hear what is happening in Lahore, Quetta, Karachi and Multan instead of lectures on history,” he said.

Bilawal said that the whole budget session was an insult to the people.Bilawal said the public doesn't want to hear about the NRO and how bad it was before. “You have given tax amnesty for these people and this budget is also ‘NRO’ to the rich, there is relief for the rich and distress for the poor,” he said. Bilawal said that Asad Qaiser has been the worst speaker in the country's parliamentary history.

In a reply to a question with regard the absence of opposition leader Shehbaz Sharif during the budget passage, Bilawal said Shehbaz Sharif could not attend the session due to a death in his family but the other opposition members should have been in the house. “It is hoped that JUI-F and PMLN will issue show cause notices to their members and will send notices to members who were not in the House,” he said.

In a reply to question, the Bilawal said no other agency should interfere in the work of NAB and the NAB should not follow the orders of individual. ‘The NAB should not become the tool of the political victimization of Imran Khan,” he said. He said unless the NAB chairman and all officers bring their assets, they have no moral right to check the assets of others. He strongly condemned the NAB raid on the house of Aijaz Jakhrani and said that the raid was conducted at a time when Aijaz Jakhrani was not even at home.