Bilawal takes a dig by calling Imran prime minister-select

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari in his maiden speech in the National Assembly on Friday called Imran Khan prime minister-select and said he was also the prime minister of ‘donkeys’ and ‘living corpses’.

“I want to remind Imran that he isn’t the prime minister of just one party. He is the prime minister of the entire country. Imran is also the PM of those whom he called living corpses, donkeys, goats and sheep,” Bilawal said amid thumping of desks by his party colleagues.

The PPP chairman addressed the House after Imran Khan was elected as the 22nd prime minister of Pakistan. Bilawal shared that he was anticipating how the newly-elected premier would implement his 100-day plan.

“People are looking at Imran Khan to resolve the issues of the country. Imran is not a party chairman anymore; he is the leader of Pakistan now,” said Bilawal.

The PPP chairman, at the beginning of his speech, also paid tribute to the martyrs who died in the attacks during the time of General Election 2018. He said that an investigation should be carried out into attacks in Peshawar, Mastung and Quetta, which caused heavy damage in terms of human lives. Bilawal further said that a strong policy against terrorism is the need of the hour for Pakistan.

While expressing disdain over disorder in the House, he said that protest is the right of any political party, however, it was unacceptable the way it was done in the session. He also expressed hope that the new NA Speaker Asad Qaiser will keep the House in order.

The PPP scion claimed that rigging took place before and after the elections, adding that across Pakistan polling agents were expelled from the polling stations.

“We are a part of the parliament to support the democratic process. This doesn’t mean that we will ignore the discrepancies in the election,” he remarked, demanding a probe into rigging allegations.

Bilawal expressed hope that Imran Khan would refrain from doing politics of hatred in the capacity of prime minister of the country and demanded a parliamentary commission to probe rigging in elections.

He said the PPP has always guarded democratic rights and will not let anyone get away with these discrepancies. He said the 2018 elections showed that we have never learnt from the history as the elections are still manipulated and there was no level playing field

“We saw media hype for some and media blackout for others. We saw some candidates get results in two hours and some not even in three days. The RTS system failed, Elections Act 2017 was violated and the list is long and shameful. But despite the PPP’s reservations, despite having rejected the process, the party decided to be part of this House to take part in the democratic process,” he said.

Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said the PPP has always preferred parliamentary supremacy, always guarded democratic rights, but this does not mean that the party will let anyone get away with these discrepancies.

“We have compromised our democracy. We have lost our freedoms — freedom of association, freedom of dissent, freedom of press — and compromised on our fundamental rights. We have mainstreamed extremism, exploiting the religion for the political gain and worst of all we have taught an entire generation of Pakistan that might is right,” he lamented.

Bilawal said the prime minister-elect should also thank the opposition parties. “If it were not for them, the speaker and prime minister would not be sitting where they are and there would have been a constitutional crisis,” he said.

The PPP chairman said a strong policy against terrorism is the need of the hour for Pakistan and hoped that the prime minister-elect will implement the National Action Plan.

On foreign policy challenges, he said Pakistan has been isolated in the world and it was hurtful that Pakistan, which has sacrificed so much in the fight against violent extremism, is seen as a part of the problem and not as part of the solution.

The PPP chairman said the Prime Minister-elect has promised a 100-day roadmap. “I want to see how he creates 10 million jobs, ends poverty and I would like to ask Khan Sahab — who said that he would rather commit suicide than go to the IMF and beg for alms — what his plan will be to deal with the economic crisis,” he said.