Imran is a ‘foreign-funded’ agent: Bilawal

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari on Sunday accused Prime Minister Imran Khan of being a ‘foreign-funded’ agent who has been planted to destroy Pakistan's economy, and foreign policy, local media reported.

The PPP chairman was addressing a press conference at the Zardari House along with former prime minister and opposition leader in the Senate Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani, Senator Sherry Rehman, Faisal Karim Kundi and Shazia Marri.

The PPP chairman said that Imran had deliberately damaged the Kashmir cause by issuing statements in favour of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi ahead of the 2019 elections in India.

Bilawal said that Imran cannot become Zulfikar Ali Bhutto with his rhetoric on foreign policy, saying that his policies did no good to the country.

“You are a foreign-sponsored agent who was planted in our system to destroy the country's economy, slow down the work on the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), and isolate Pakistan at the international level with wrong policies,” Bilawal said, adding that the PTI government's policies had angered Pakistan's long-term allies.

“He is adopting the foreign policy of India. What is the difference between his foreign policy and that of India right now,” Bilawal said about Imran Khan.

“You have distanced Pakistan from its long-term friends - the United States and the European Union - with which we have trade relations worth billions of dollars.”

He said that the people of Pakistan resent the incumbent government’s economic policies and will not forgive anyone who votes in favour of you in the no-confidence motion.

“Those who will stand against you will be remembered as a hero in history who helped take down a corrupt and incompetent regime. The history will remember those who stood with the Constitution, democratic values, and those who favoured the selected regime.”

Bilawal said that the prime minister is running away from the no-confidence motion as he already knew about his defeat from the outset, adding that the "captain who knows that he is going to win never runs away from the game."

The PPP chairman said the prime minister is running away from the motion but “we will not allow him to play with the future of our country.”

He went on to criticise the PM, saying that he has "violated the Constitution of Pakistan."

Bilawal said that the Bar Council has presented a petition before the Supreme Court which did not include the names of political parties. However, the chief justice of Pakistan still issued notices to us.

He said the government considers itself to be above the Constitution, laws and rules. “However, there is an institution in the country that is ready to protect our constitutional rights, democratic rights, our votes, and the parliamentarians."

Bilawal said that he will reveal the PM’s "propaganda." adding that "he [PM Imran Khan] is trying to build a narrative that is based on fiction."

Talking about the Parliament Lodges incident, Bilawal said the government initiated it by attacking the parliamentarians and their lodges before arresting them. “When the MNAs moved to the Sindh House after the Parliamentary Lodges incident, the PM started a propaganda against them,” he added.

The chairman challenged the premier, saying that the PPP had accused the PTI of rigging the politics by providing proof to the court.

He added that PM Imran does not have any evidence of wrongdoing against the opposition and so he is running a propaganda-based campaign.

Referring to PM Imran Khan's speech in Malakand on Sunday, when he told his dissident MNAs that people will not forgive them if they become turncoats, Bilawal said: “How can you say that the nation will punish the leaders who vote against you? The nation is not in favour of you."

The PPP chairman went on to say that the prime minister has lost the by-elections and local body elections during the last three years. “The nation has always rejected the premier’s fake mandate and it hates the economic policy presented by him. The nation also rejects the PM’s facilitators,” added Bilawal.

Criticising the PM for the country’s deteriorating economy, the PPP chairman said the nation is suffering due to the imposition of heavy taxes, unemployment and poverty. “People who are going against PM Khan will have their names added to history for standing with democracy and the Constitution and they will always be remembered for that,” he said.

Bilawal further said that the PTI-led government is approaching its end and it will have to give an account of the economic policy and its corruption in the foreign funding case.

“The government has used Islam and the Riyasat-e-Madina narrative to destroy the country,” he said while calling the premier a “foreign-funded agent” who has been planted in Pakistan's political system.

Bilawal said that PM Imran Khan has destroyed the economy, sabotaged the China–Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). “The PM has been tasked to run campaigns for India’s PM Narendra Modi and to follow former president Parvez Musharraf’s three-point agenda.”