Selected PM runs away from National Assembly: Bilawal

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari Wednesday said 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 the Parliament if the agreement with the IMF is 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 IMF deal, they had provided 6.8 million jobs to the people of Pakistan, doubled the pension and increased the salaries of the government employees. He said Prime Minister Imran Khan had appointed PPP's finance minister Hafeez Sheikh as their 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 is 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 does not want political stability. The PPP chairman said the government has bowed down before the International Monetary Fund. “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 as it was the success of Jehangir Tareen. “It is 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 the JIT probes them but if fake accounts of any “Tareen” are found somewhere else, no JIT is formed, no mill is shut down,” he said. Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said 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 is suffering due to the economic incompetence of the federal government,”

he said. Bilawal said Sindh tops in collection of tax revenue and the provincial government has the authority to collect sales tax and they are also prepared 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 is false. He said 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 they have imposed emergency act in the PIA and the whole system of the PIA is being shifted to Islamabad. “There is no defense housing society for them in Islamabad, where will they stay and reside in Islamabad, their expenditure will rise but you are not increasing their salaries,” he said.

The PPP chairman said they are claiming to provide five million houses but instead, they are demolishing the people’s houses, they are claiming to provide 10 million jobs but instead they are snatching the existing jobs. “From PIA they have rendered 1500 people unemployed and just look at the plight of the media industry and from every media outlets people are losing jobs,” he said. The PPP chairman said the people are suffering due to the incompetency of the government. In reply to a question, he said the PPP in its tenure had appointed Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan as a PAC Chairman. He said the PTI, which is claiming justice, is running away from this point and wanted to appoint their own man for the accountability of the government. 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 them at all the forums.

The PPP chairman came hard on NAB and said the PPP from very first day is saying it is 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 democracy only strengthens with 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, but we feel NAB is itself a money laundering institution as it gives amnesty to whiten the black money so there are several lacunae in the NAB bill,” he said.

He said the PPP efforts will continue for across the board accountability in which judges, generals and politicians are held accountable alike. “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 was not taken into confidence. “Though on Tuesday one of their members said in the assembly that the decision was not final. 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.