Corruption allegations: NAB silent, PM also not responding, says Bilawal

KARACHI: Chairman Pakistan People’s Party Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has asked the party workers to observe social distancing for not only combating the coronavirus but also as a rehearsal to launch a movement against the government at an appropriate time.

He said this while addressing a zoom meeting with the senior party leadership on Wednesday evening with chairman PPP in Karachi while other participants were present in different cities.

The chairman PPP will soon issue a recorded message on the social media to the workers of the party in this regard, said a press release issued by the Bilawal House.“Let there be no doubt or mistake that political movements cannot be launched because of corona. Our workers will show to the world how to launch political movements even while observing precautions against the pandemic,” the chairman PPP said.

The zoom meeting was participated by the party leaders including Raja Pervez Ashraf, Nayyer Bokhari, Syed Naveed Qamar, Raza Rabbani, Sherry Rehman, Qamar Zaman Kaira and Farhatullah Babar, who also discussed the current political situation, enforced disappearances, the situation in ex-tribal areas and the holding of the APC of opposition parties and strategies.

Bilawal Zardari said that with Imran Khan as the prime minister, the country will go from crisis to crisis and its very stability was on stake. “Indeed, the two cannot go together any longer. It is imperative that the selected prime minister sees the writing on the wall and himself quits,” he said.

One by one state institutions have been destroyed and there is total crisis of credibility of the regime both within the country and abroad, he said. “The monumental corruption of the selected regime has crossed all limits. While the BRT project stands out as a symbol of corruption, the contractors are doled out more contracts.

PIA has been ruined. A future historian will record that the country was once ruled by a selected prime minister whose chief contribution to the statecraft has been witchcraft and corruption. While he advertised himself as Mr Clean, the selected prime minister thrived on the corruption of his henchmen,” the PPP chairman said.

The selected prime minister’s ATM i.e. the Abraaj Group and K-Electric are sucking the blood of the people of Karachi while the NAB looks the other way, he said. Bilawal recalled that some time NAB had announced that it was preparing a reference in the BRT corruption but for some unexplained reasons, the chairman NAB was now silent.

Whether it is the sugar and flour crisis, Malam Jabba, the billion tree farce, the foreign funding case or the oil pricing, corruption of the regime floats on the surface for everyone to see, he said. The Auditor General of Pakistan has documented corruption and irregularities worth Rs270 billion in its first year in power of the selected prime minister.

While in the opposition, Imran denounced all amnesty schemes but now as the prime minister he announced amnesty schemes to benefit his cronies, he said adding “When it comes to fighting the history’s fiercest locust attack, the selected prime minister refused to provide the needed support to the Sindh government in contravention of the federal responsibility.”

He said that it was a matter of record that Pakistan’s growth was never negative even during the worst crisis of 1971 when the country was dismembered. Today, because of the incompetence and corruption of the regime, Pakistan is faced with negative growth. People have been thrown out of jobs, unemployment is increasing by the day and people are committing suicide.

The PPP chairman condemned enforced disappearances in the country. He recalled that the selected prime minister before coming into power had declared to make legislation within a month to address the issue. But two years down the line, citizens who disagree with the state narrative continue to disappear with impunity, he said.

Bilawal Bhutto Zardari also warned against tinkering with the 18th Amendment and reducing the share of the provinces in the NFC Award. The cat is out of the bag as Imran’s coalition partners have started speaking in unison demanding a revision of the awards formula, he said.

Gone are the days when the Federation would dip its hand into the national kitty at will and stealthily draw from it to meet its greed at the expense of the provinces, he said warning that national integrity will be at stake if the share of the federating units was decreased from the constitutionally-guaranteed ratio.

Asim Yasin adds from Islamabad: PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and Chief of JUI-F Maulana Fazlur Rehman held telephonic conversation and discussed possibilities of convening All Parties Conference of the opposition to bring all opposition on one page to launch anti-government movement. It was second contact between both of them in a week time as first contact was made when Maulana Fazlur Rehman visited former president Asif Ali Zardari and Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and now it was the second contact between the two leaders. In a telephonic conversation, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and Maulana Fazlur Rehman discussed the current political situation in the country especially the post-budget economic situation of the country.

Maulana Fazlur Rehman stressed the need of joint action from the opposition against the government saying that this government has totally failed in every field. Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said he raised the questions on the corruption of the PTI but still did not get a reply from prime minister on his questions.

Meanwhile, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said three days have passed but the PTI still failed to respond to his challenges to them.

“Imran Khan and his ministers’ front men involved in Peshawar BRT corruption,” he tweeted. He further stated that Imran Khan and his ministers’ front men were involved in protecting K-Electric corruption. “No answer to FIA report and Imran Khan’s sister’s corruption, ministers’ corruption and silence of the PTI, NAB and courts,” he tweeted.