Imran mishandled everything, says Bilawal

ISLAMABAD: Chairman Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Bilawal Bhutto Zardari Friday dubbed the National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser ‘selected’ for facilitating the passage of an ‘illegal and unconstitutional budget’ through rigging. “We have witnessed the worst rigging in the country’s parliamentary history for the passage of budget. The National Assembly speaker got the bill passed through rigging,” he said while addressing a press conference outside the Parliament House after the passage of Finance Bill 2019-20. Bilawal said the speakers of former military dictators Zia and Musharraf were more neutral than Asad Qaiser, as he did not issue the production orders of two members of the opposition. “He is ‘selected’ and a liar speaker who tells a lie not only to the nation, but also to the National Assembly,” he said, adding, “Two members of the opposition have been kept in jail so that they cannot cast their votes.”

Terming the budget illegal and unconstitutional, he said the government managed to pass the budget through rigging and made an attack on Sindh through this budget.

“There is censorship in the National Assembly. The PTI government has attacked Sindh and Thar coal project,” he said.

He said Thar Coal Power Project was feeding power to the entire country but the government imposed 15 percent tax on it instead of providing tax exemption.

“The real face of Prime Minister Imran Khan has been exposed before the nation. All of his slogans have proved a fake and his every promise has proved a pack of lies,” he said.

“Why should I not call him selected, as neither the prime minister has presented the budget nor can he appoint his own finance minister. It is not the budget of PTI but of the IMF. It is ‘PTIMF’ budget,” he said.

He said the ‘tyrannical’ government was making people unemployed instead of giving them jobs.“

“How long we can bear these injustices?” he asked. He urged the nation to rise up against the government and announced a public meeting in Gujar Khan on Saturday (today).

Bilawal said the government was committing the economic murder of people through the budget.

He said the ruling party had promised 5 million houses for the deserving people but not a single penny was kept for the purpose.

“The rulers rather deprived the poor of the roof. Today is a black day in the parliamentary history of the country, as there is tax amnesty for the rich snatching everything from the poor,” he continued.

He said the opposition opposed every clause of the finance bill because it felt the miseries of the poor.

He charged that anything handled by Prime Minster Imran Khan went worse be it economy or any other sector.

He said the budget was sucking the blood of laborers and growers.

“This government has razed the abodes of poor people in the name of encroachment,” he said, adding that incompetence was hallmark of the government.

“Money is forcibly extracted from the poor and doled out to the rich. People have been defrauded in the name of change,” he said.

Bilawal said the day his father and former president Asif Ali Zardari was arrested, he had offered cooperation to the government to bring a pro-people budget but an anti-people budget was passed to their disappointment.

Bilawal said he had started his mass movement and tomorrow (Saturday) he was holding a jalsa (public meeting) in Gujar Khan where he will tell the people of Punjab that how the PTI government was looting and plundering the nation’s money.

The PPP chairman said he will also hold public rallies in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, including former Fata, and then other cities.

Commenting on the statement of Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa on the state of economy, Bilawal said, “It is the right thing, and this statement is correct. In my first speech, I had also offered cooperation for working on the national issues and economy and same things were also stated by Shahbaz Sharif and former president Asif Al Zardari but what can we do, as this government does not want consensus. This government wants to do everything itself. Had they been capable, there would not have been any issue but the problem is that every issue touched by Imran Khan has always gone worse whether it is politics or economy.”

Replying to a question, he said they wanted to lodge a protest in Parliament but the speaker did not allow it.

“We will continue to fight against this government,” he vowed.

He made it clear that they wanted to topple the government but not to derail the democratic system and Parliament.

To a question, he alleged that the government was using the missing persons issue to blackmail and pressurise the BNP (Mengal) that if they voted in their favour then 50 of their persons would be released.

“This is arm twisting and democracy could not move in this way,” he said.

Replying to a question, he said the Rehbar Committee would formulate the strategy, as the political movement could not be finalised in a few days.

Asked if the current political polarization could pave way for the third force, Bilawal said if the government itself did not want to see continuation of democratic system and Parliament then the system would damage.

“They attacked Parliament in the year 2014 from the outside and now they have attacked it from inside by passing the budget through rigging and attacking the 18th amendment and the NFC,” he said.

To a question, he said in his personal view there should be a protest against the ‘obnoxious’ behaviour of the National Assembly speaker and he will also consult the other opposition parties on the issue.