Selected PM runs away from National Assembly: Bilawal

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari Wednesday said that elected prime minister ran away from National Assembly while PPP wanted to pose some questions to him.

He warned of strong protest inside and outside of Parliament if the agreement with the IMF was not brought before Parliament for approval.

“We also made agreements with the IMF but never compromised on the country’s economic sovereignty as now the salaried employee of the IMF was appointed as a Governor of the State Bank of Pakistan,” he said while addressing a press conference outside the Parliament House on Wednesday.

Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said despite the deal with the IMF, they had provided 6.8 million jobs to the people of Pakistan in their tenure, double the pension and increase the salaries of the government employees.

He said that Prime Minister Imran Khan had appointed Hafeez Sheikh who was finance minister of the PPP as the economic adviser without even meeting him. “No one, including the prime minister, knew the reasons behind the change,” he claimed.

The PPP chairman questioned if the IMF was making the changes, it would bring disaster to the country’s economy. “The FBR chairman was replaced while accepting the condition of the IMF and now whether the IMF decides who will be the governor of the State Bank of Pakistan and whether the IMF also decides who will be the country’s finance minister,” he questioned.

Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said the economic stability comes through political stability but the government did not want political stability.

The PPP chairman said the government has bowed down before the International Monetary Fund (IMF). “All of a sudden SBP governor, FBR chairman and finance minister were changed. Are the decisions being taken from somewhere else,” he said.

In reply to a question with regard to reports of Jehangir Tareen as a de facto deputy prime minister, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said he congratulated Jehangir Tareen on getting the office of the deputy prime minister for himself as it was success of Jehangir Tareen. “It was a double policy as the benami (fake) accounts of mill owners in Sindh are illegal and they face jail and their mills are also shut down and even JIT probes but if same fake accounts of any “Tareen” are found somewhere else, no JIT is formed, no mill is closed down,” he said.

Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said that the provinces are on the verge of bankruptcy because of the incompetence of the federal government. “The federal government failed to achieve its revenue target and the provincial government are suffering due to the economic incompetency of the federal government,” he said.

He said the Sindh tops in collection of tax revenue and the provincial government has authority to collect sales tax and they are ready to collect the tax revenues for the federal government to achieve the targets.

He said there is uncertainty in the economy, as they are getting four budgets in a single year.

He said they propagated that the federation has gone bankrupt due to 18th Amendment and it is a lie, as every statement and slogan of Imran Khan has been false.

He said that the labor unions are being weakened in all institutions under a conspiracy, homes are being demolished under the so-called anti-encroachment drives yet the government continues to remain silent on such grave issues.

He said the in the PIA they have imposed emergency act and the whole system of the PIA was being shifted to Islamabad. “There was no defense housing society for them in Islamabad, where they will stay and reside in Islamabad, their expenditure will rise but you are not increasing their salaries,” he said.

The PPP chairman said they were claiming to provide 5 million houses but instead, they are demolishing the people’s houses, they are claiming to provide 10 million jobs but instead of it they were snatching the existing jobs from the people. “From PIA they had made 1500 people unemployed and just look the condition of the media industry and from every media outlets the people are losing their jobs,” he said.

The PPP chairman said the people were suffering due to the incompetency of the government.

In reply to a question, he said the PPP in its tenure has appointed Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan as a PAC Chairman.

He said the PTI, which was claiming justice, was running away from this point and wanted to appoint their own man for the accountability of the government.

Bilawal asked Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz to take a decision on the change of chairmanship of PAC with all due deliberations so that it maintains its principled stand.

He said the government did not have any answer to its one-year performance as neither they provided any job, nor policy, nor any major policy initiative. “The people have to decide whether their financial positions were better before the “Tabdeeli (change)” or after it,” he said.

When asked whether the PPP will challenge the appointments of the SBP governor and FBR chairman, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said the PPP will challenge these at all the forums.

In reply to question with regard to NAB, the PPP chairman came hard on the NAB and said that the PPP from very first day was saying that it was black law of the dictator that was created for the political victimisation and political engineering. “We have our own policy how we carve out the system for the accountability and justice to strengthen the democracy,” he said.

Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said that the democracy only strengthens with the accountability but with the political victimisation thorough NAB it weakens. “The PPP stance is very clear, we want to bring the reforms for the across the board accountability, we feel that the NAB is itself a money laundering institution as it gives amnesty to whiten the black money so there are so many lacunae in the NAB bill,” he said.

He said the PPP efforts will continue for the across the board accountability in which either judge, general or politicians are held accountable. “We will bring the amendments in the National Assembly and in the Senate,” he said.

In reply to a question regarding the decision of the PML-N to replace the chairman of the PAC, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said the PPP had not been taken into confidence. “Though on Tuesday, one of their members said in the assembly that the decision was not final and I also advised them to take a decision on the change of chairmanship of PAC with all due deliberations so that it maintains its principled stand,” he said.