Asif Ali Zardari will neither bow nor run away: Bilawal Bhutto

ISLAMABAD: Chairman Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Bilawal Bhutto Zardari Monday said despite his illness Zardari stood firm on his principled stance and he will not bow come hell or high water. “We are proud of our leader, who neither bows, nor compromises, nor runs away,” he said while talking to newsmen after visiting the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) to inquire after his father Asif Ali Zardari.

He said the cases against Asif Zardari were false and now the Supreme Court had taken up his petition against the trial of his case in Rawalpindi instead of Sindh. He said the apex court will have to decide whether the case be tried in Sindh or Rawalpindi adding that they expected justice from the court.

Bilawal said it was being heard that the PTI government was trying to save former military dictator General (R) Pervez Musharraf in the high-treason case but the nation was looking towards the judiciary.

“We are also looking that an absconder and a traitor is being tried in court and our chief justice has said that the case verdict is expected soon. Now it is being heard that the Imran Khan government is striving to protect this absconder, traitor and dictator,” he said. Bilawal said he was positive that the judiciary will pass through this test now.

“Pervaiz Musharraf's trial and the verdict will give the same message, which the chief justice has given that these courts have announced verdicts only against the former prime ministers. I hope a verdict is expected against a dictator and as a result the Pakistani democracy and its journey will be strengthened,” he said.

Asked whether the JUI-F chief Fazlur Rehman had taken them into confidence on his statement about a change in December and elections in three months, Bilawal said Fazl had not shared any details in this regard.

As for the issue of any deadline, deal or elections after three months, Fazl has not shared with us. We hope that it will also be shared with us tomorrow,” he said. To another question, he said Zardari was not ready to apply for bail but the party was requesting him to go for it on merit.

“After the judgment in Maryam Nawaz case, I believe everyone who is imprisoned without allegation should also get bail. We argue with Zardari sahib on these points but his stance is that all these cases are false, fabricated and he will face them himself and will not bow before anyone,” he said.

Asked whether only political issues will be discussed in the APC or those being faced by the public will also come under discussion, he said in every APC the same points were discussed.

“As far as the PPP is concerned, from the first day till now, we have been talking about attacks on the people’s democratic rights, human rights and economic rights. These are the basic components of the PPP manifesto and we don’t think that this country can run like this,” he said.

He said the PPP always believed that if the common man received relief from taxes and benefitted from subsidies and had money in his pocket, then that money will circulate in our economy and the whole country's economy will prosper.

He said the PPP believe that when the government announced a tax amnesty scheme, which was for billionaires, then those billionaires keep that tax relief in their bank accounts, but for the farmers, laborers and students there was no tax amnesty scheme.

“This is injustice. This is not one but two Pakistans. The PPP always thinks about the people and will continue to work for them,” he said. Asked about Nawaz Sharif’s departure to London for treatment, he said Imran Khan himself wanted him to go abroad to save his government and politics. He said Nawaz Sharif got ill and Imran Khan got an opportunity and he sent him abroad. “We believe treatment is everyone's right but Imran Khan should clearly accept, as the chief justice has said, that he did all that.