Bilawal calls PML-N policy duplicitous

RAHIM YAR KHAN: Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari Thursday said Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) policy was not based on resistance or reconciliation, but hypocrisy.

Addressing a party workers' convention in Jamaldin Wali near here, he said the political parties which raised the slogan of "Vote ko izzat do" should use their votes and dislodge Usman Buzdar. He said that if the opposition parties did nothing against the Buzdar government, that would prove their politics was neither of resistance nor of reconciliation but of hypocrisy.

The people of Punjab would reject the politics of hypocrisy. “Dual politics does not stand a chance. Either you have to challenge the incapable, failed and illegitimate government or have to accept that you are the facilitator of the selected government.

“When you will send the Buzdar government packing, the selected prime minister will flee automatically,” the PPP chairman said.

Without naming the PML-N, he said: “On the one hand, you talk of the respecting the vote, and on the other hand, you do not want to use your votes. If you do not do it, then the people of Punjab will not forgive you,” warned Bilawal. He said people would hold accountable the puppet who had stolen their votes.

The PPP chairman claimed that his party was gaining popularity and it would form the next government not only in Centre but also in Punjab province. People have experienced the PMLN government and now they are experiencing the government of Imran Khan. They are able to distinguish the difference between the performance of these two governments and the performance of the PPP government in the past. He regretted that now country’s foreign minister and other high officials visit the US and beg for a telephone call.

He said the selected and puppet prime minister had not fulfilled a single promise; whether it was about provision of 10 million jobs or 5 million houses. He said people were suffering from unprecedented price-hike, unemployment and poverty during the PTI government. He said the callous government had sacked 10,000 workers of the Steel Mills and recently sacked 20,000 employees of the federal government departments. He said that we would challenge the decision in the court.

He also asked Jiyalas [party activists] to go door to door with the party manifesto in their hands.

News desk adds: Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Fazl (JUIF) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman criticised Bilawal Bhutto Zardari for damaging the cause of opposition alliance, Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM).

He alleged that the PPP chairman had reached a deal with the establishment and joined the government ranks. He claimed that he was also offered the same deal by the establishment, but the opposition alliance and he rejected that.

Fazlur Rehman, speaking to Saleem Safi in Geo News programme ‘Jirga’, blamed Bilawal for the PDM fallout. "The PDM suffered setbacks as we had Mir Jaffars and Mir Sadiqs among our ranks," he said, referring to alleged traitors in the alliance.

The Maulana said the option to resign from the assemblies was mentioned in the PDM manifesto, and had Bilawal listened to the alliance leadership, the PTI government would have been ousted and elections would have held at that time.

"We are aware of several things, but we do not want to initiate a war; if we do that, then nothing will be left," Fazl warned.

Fazl also demanded the government recognise the Taliban government in Afghanistan.

"The Taliban entered Kabul as victors after waging a 20-year long war," Fazl said. "The Taliban signalling to form a broad-based government and announcing general amnesty for all is a clear indication of their attitude ".

The JUI-F chief called upon the world to demonstrate an open heart towards the Taliban, saying that it is their turn to do so now.

"If the world promotes relationship and trade with the Taliban, they will also reciprocate by appreciating bilateral ties," Fazl stressed.

The Taliban will have to take recourse to the Constitution, law and public opinion, he said.