Empty chairs startled Imran: Bilawal

THARPARKAR: Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said on Saturday that Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan startled to see empty chairs in his rallies particularly in Jhelum and Jhang.

He remarked that his party’s work has just begun.

“Our successful rallies across the countries are a reply to all the forces who thought that PPP ended after the martyrdom of [Zulfikar Ali] Bhutto and Benazir Bhutto,” he said while addressing a rally in Nagarparkar area of Tharparkar.

The puppet alliances are formed against PPP but the nation has always rejected those alliance, he added.

‘Our jiyalas are not scared of [Pervez] Musharraf or Zia,” he said, adding that the party supporters favour democracy.

Bilawal had said that the political opponent Imran Khan has zero chance of becoming the next prime minister.

Bilawal said that the two “so-called” political parties — Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz — had taken Punjab’s politics hostage.

Bilawal added that alliances have always been formed against the PPP but the party has persevered and will continue to fight.

The PPP chairman also reiterated that a weak democracy is better than a powerful dictatorship.

Responding to comments by PTI leader Shah Mehmood Qureshi, a former PPP member, Bilawal said Qureshi was present when the Charter of Democracy was signed and knows well that its aim was to strengthen democracy.

He asked Qureshi what his present party stands for — other than making a mockery of the political system. “We will always work to protect democracy,” Bilawal stressed.