Selected PM has started with begging bowl: Bilawal

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said here Wednesday that those who claim to break the begging bowls are now running the government through donations.

“The country has been handed over to the ‘selected government’, which needs to be told that the people want real democracy. I want to tell [the] ‘selected government’ that the people want democracy of their elected representatives,” he said while addressing the condolence seminar on the death anniversary of veteran politician Nawabzada Nasrullah Khan here on Wednesday.

Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said that the people are asking if there is controlled democracy in the new Pakistan,” he said.

The PPP chairman said he had decided to wait for at least 100 days before criticising the government’s policies but had to speak because selected premier (Imran Khan) is making life worse for the poor. Bilawal Bhutto Zardari questioned Prime Minister Imran Khan's skipping the United Nation General Assembly session asking the prime minister to tell the nation why he avoided the General Assembly of the United Nations to raise the Kashmir issue. “The prime minister should have attended the UNGA as it was an opportunity to raise the Kashmir issue but he lost the opportunity,” he said.

He said that the United Nations finally produced a report on the atrocities being faced by innocent Kashmiris and the prime minister instead of attending the session himself, sent his foreign minister.

PPP chairman came hard on the PTI government and said that inexperience rulers were pushing the country into disaster through their wrong decisions. “The PTI which claims to break the begging bowl has started its government with seeking donations, but they should know that the country could not run through the donations,” he said, adding the government had dropped the price hike bomb on the people of Pakistan through their mini-budget.

Bilawal Bhutto Zardari criticised those who were raising voice against the 18th Amendment saying that those who aiming to abolish the 18th Amendment were against the federation. “I want to tell the enemies of the federation that we have been doing politics since 50 years and will continue to challenge the anti-democracy forces,” he said.

Criticising government’s foreign policy, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said the government had totally failed on this front and its foreign policy was being run only on the social media. “The government should avoid making a joke of the foreign policy,” he said.

He said Pakistan was passing through a critical political juncture of the time, but the PTI government was doing a politics on the non-issues to divert the attention of the people from the real issues.

The PPP chairman said the judiciary in the past was used against the political parties. “I have complaint that neither Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto nor Shaheed Benazir Bhutto got justice while former president Asif Ali Zardari was appearing before the courts to prove himself innocent,” he said.

Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said the PPP feels justified to ask a question why Asif Ali Zardari has still been facing courts for the last 30 years. “The fake cases still being made against Asif Ali Zardari,” he said.

He said Nawabzada Nasarullah Khan, who declared Asif Ali Zardari as a “Mard-e-Hur” had played a vital role in his release from the jail.

He demanded the investigations of the incidents of terrorism during the election campaign. “The people were asking the question why only the politicians were targeted and martyred during the election time,” he said.

The PPP chairman said he had demanded formation of the parliamentary commission comprising both the Houses of Parliament. “The parliamentary commission should be headed by an opposition member,” he said. Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said if Parliament did not remove the reservations, they could go to the any extent.

He said the cases were being made on the printing of the interviews. “This is not the democracy for which Late Nawabzada Nasarullah Khan dedicated his full life,” he said.

Speaking on the issue of water, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said the real cause of the water shortage was its unjust distribution and any decision on the water could only be taken at the forum of the Council of Common Interest. “Sindh was not being provided water to save the land from going barren as Sindh and Balochistan ware facing sever draught,” he said.

Bilawal said the decisions of the Council of Common Interest could not be challenged in the courts of the law.

He said the dictators--Zia and Musharraf--in their tenure also made efforts to build Kalabagh Dam but could not do it.

Addressing the seminar, parliamentary leader of the PML-N, Rana Tanveer Hussain said there was a need to making more efforts to revive the democracy in the country. “Now there is need to take the thinking of Nawabzada Nasarullah Khan to move ahead,” he said.

He said whenever the democracy came under crisis then the politicians were looking towards Nawabzada Nasarullah Khan. “Today, the country was passing through more difficult time than martial days(sic) and now there were many person who could play their role like of Nawabzada Nsarullah Khan,” he said.

Senator Mir Hasil Bizanjo of the National Party said Nawabzada Nasarullah Khan has activated the Movement for Restoration of Democracy from launching door to door campaign.

He aid the present political era is worse then the days of Zia and Musharraf. “Now the strong people wanted to do what they want and even the NAB is a tool of the strong institutions,” he said.

He said NAB means that only politicians are corrupt.

Former Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani said he had proposed Shaheed Benazir Bhutto to get elect Nawabzada Nsarullah Khan. “Benazir Bhutto questioned me why to elect Nawabzada Nsarullah Khan as president. I replied that Nawabzada Nsarullah Khan will not dissolve the assemblies,” he said.

Senator Jehanzeb Jamaldini proposed that there should be an internal conference on Nawabzada Nsarullah Khan, who always stood against the dictators. “The services of Nawabzada Nsarullah Khan should be made part of the syllabus,” he added.

Renowned Jouranlist Hamid Mir paid tributes to service of Nawabzada Nsarullah Khan for the democracy in the country and said that Nawabzada Nsarullah Khan always stood against the dictators and launch the movements against the dictators.

He said Nawabzada Nsarullah Khan always brought the political parties on one platform on a minimum agenda. Hamid Mir said Musharraf still in the power and the trial of Musharraf should be held.