KARACHI/ISLAMABAD: Chairman of Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on Monday said his party could topple the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf government within seconds if asked by his father and PPPP President Asif Ali Zardari.
Criticising the federal cabinet’s decision of placing 172 accused in fake accounts case on the Exit Control List (ECL), Bilawal laughed off the government’s attempt to oust Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah and impose the governor rule’s in the province.
“We know they lack political acumen, but now we can see that their mathematics is weak as well,” he said while speaking to media persons here.
“We [PPP] have 99 MPAs in the Sindh Assembly, while they will be needing about 49 to 50 MPAs to impose the governor’s rule. But we can topple the federal government anytime, as they have a lead of just 17 MNAs. We can topple the government and send the rulers to jail if Asif Ali Zardari permits us to do so,” said Bilawal.
He also rejected the JIT report and termed it a work of fiction.
“It’s obvious — the government is behind the report. It was seen by the government before submission to the Supreme Court. Their role is being exposed,” Bilawal continued.
Bilawal said the country was facing pressing issues such as terrorism but the government was busy with what he called a fake JIT report.
“Their target is the Sindh government. Those who do not want Sindh to prosper want to change the chief minister,” he added.
He asked reporters to testify if there had been any report of corruption committed by him during the PPP’s tenures in Centre and province.
“We will fight the cases against us in courts. Fake cases had been lodged against Zardari in the past as well. He was acquitted and will be acquitted again,” Bilawal said.
Meanwhile, Federal Information Minister Fawad Hussain on Monday wondered how Bilawal Bhutto Zardari could topple the federal government when even his father Asif Ali Zardari could not do so.
Speaking to reporters in Islamabad after meeting with Prime Minister Imran Khan, he advised Bilawal to be worried about himself.
Fawad clarified that neither the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf was after the Sindh government nor did it want the governor’s rule there but insisted Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah should step down on moral grounds.
He contended that Murad faced serious allegations in the JIT report and his name was on the ECL, while the prime minister had also said that how he would be able to go abroad in such a situation.
“Therefore, our advice to him is that he should voluntarily resign and the PPP may install a person of its choice in his place,” the minister said and noted two PTI ministers had resigned over allegations.
He said it was decided after meetings with the prime minister that this impression should be done away with that the PTI was looking for a change of government in Sindh. He said they never said that they were changing the Sindh government.
Fawad also noted that if Murad did not step down, then the Sindh Assembly could remove him, which of course would be a democratic way. “The Sindh government’s foundation is weak; it’s shaking, which is why they think we are bringing a change in the province… We don’t want to interfere at all”.
“The mandate for this change is with the representatives of the Sindh Assembly and I am glad that they are mounting pressure on the chief minister," he continued.
The minister claimed that people from Sindh were approaching them.
“Today in the Supreme Court during hearing in the Asghar Khan case also, it was contended that the PTI was looking for a change in the Sindh government, therefore, the prime minister decided that this impression should not be there that the PTI wanted a power shift in the province."
Fawad said pressure in Sindh was not from the PTI, but from MPAs.
“People give mandate to a government and the assembly has the prerogative to elect chief minister,” he said.
The minister emphasised that the PTI was in the government and it had certain obligations to fulfil, which it exactly it was doing.
“The issue of Zardari’s fake accounts and money laundering started in 2015 but during the PML-N rule it was pushed aside. Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan is also answerable as to why this was done,” he said.
He alleged that both Zardari and Nawaz Sharif wanted that the government should change the definition of corruption in which lay their political survival. “If we don’t legalise corruption, their political career is a history,” he asserted.
Fawad charged that Zardari ran a network in Sindh, stole the poor Sindhis’ money and transferred it abroad to buy costly properties in London and Dubai and so did the Sharif family that had its own network in Punjab and elsewhere.
He further charged that the PPP’s corruption had ‘destroyed’ Sindh while the money meant for the poor patients of Thar and the destitute was also taken away and put into Zardari’s accounts.
The minister said both had never thought that Imran Khan would alone get so many seats in the general election, leaving them behind and thus failing their scheme.
Referring to the Charter of Democracy (CoD) signed between the PPP and PML-N, he said it was in fact a charter to cover up each other’s corruption.
About placing the names of all 172 suspects on the ECL, including Zardari, Bilawal, Murad and others, the minister argued that during the stint of Shahid Khaqan Abbasi as prime minister, Ishaq Dar had gone abroad and never returned and so did Husain Haqqani and former chairman SECP.
Fawad pointed out that during the previous regimes, the heads of financial institutions were also involved in money laundering and the poor people of Sindh were looted by joining hands with the Omni Group.
He again denied that the federal government was seeking a change of power in Sindh at the expense of PPP and said the PTI was just seeking the resignation of Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah.
Asked about the JIT recommendations that 16 references should be filed against Zardari and others, he said the government had nothing to do with it.
The minister claimed that Pakistan was fast moving towards economic stability.
