Bilawal terms calling off joint Parliament session ‘insult of President’

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said Prime minister Imran Khan has retreated from calling the joint session off within hours after summoning and this is also insult of president of Pakistan.

“This shows that our strategy to contact the government's allies and convince them of our perspective on the EVM, policy of unilateral reforms and the government's efforts to harm the electoral process worked and we thank all the opposition parties' members that were present,” he said while talking to the newsmen after the dinner meeting at the Parliament which he hosted for the parliamentarians belonging to the opposition from both the houses of the Parliament.

Bilawal said, “We are getting good results from the unity of the opposition in the Parliament. The government was defeated yesterday and today the government had to run away from the joint session. We will be able to stop the wrong policies of the government such as making the ECP controversial and undemocratic ways”.

Responding to another question Bilawal said that the terrorists who were involved in the Army Public School incident must be punished, while some have been punished, the terrorist Ehsanullah Ehsan was given NRO by Imran Khan and sent abroad. He said the way the government has addressed this issue is controversial. “When we decided to negotiate during the PPP government, we consulted the Parliament and made the people aware of the issue,” he said.

Bilawal said, “We decided to fight the terrorist and were able to form consensus in the country. This is not fear as you cannot send your military commanders to war and to negotiate peace without creating political consensus and cover which they require.”

In a reply to another question regarding the appearance of Prime Minister Imran Khan before the Supreme Court of Pakistan, Bilawal said the “favourite” being before the Supreme Court was a change. In a reply to a question, he said that the joint opposition will collectively contact the government, not separately.

Responding to a question, Bilawal said that the PPP has taken the country out of economic problems before and has been the solution to economic plight. “As far as the opposition alliance in the Parliament is concerned, it has always been intact in the Parliament,” he said.

He said the PPP has always been of the view that it must not leave the space that is the Parliament, instead use this space. “We can defeat the government in the Parliament and within the system. Everyone can see that the government’s reverse counting has started,” he said.

Responding to a question about economy, he said that the PPP has a solution to the economic problems. “The people are troubled due to price-hike, unemployment and poverty,” he said. He said, “In the 1970s, the PPP showed that when the country was divided into two and the economy was down, we made the economy stand on its feet due to pro-people economic policies.”

He said when the PPP came to power in 2008, inflation, unemployment and poverty were at the highest level and wheat, sugar and rice were being imported. “When we left, we were exporting these essential commodities and the inflation was reduced to half,” he said.

Meanwhile, in a tweet Bilawal Bhutto after the Presidential order for withdrawing his order for summoning of the joint sitting of the Parliament for Thursday (November 11) said that yet another victory for the united opposition in Parliament.

Bilawal tweeted from his twitter accounts that government ran away from joint sessions when they saw they would be defeated “yet again. Kaptaan Bagh gaya,” he tweeted. With his tweet, he also shared the notification of the postponement of joint sitting of both the houses of the Parliament signed by President Dr Arif Alvi.

Earlier, PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari hosted dinner for opposition parliamentarians at the banquet hall of the Senate on Wednesday evening attended by the members National Assembly and the Senate.

During dinner reception the combined opposition decided to form a steering committee comprising members of all the opposition parties with the task to take all the decisions on behalf of the opposition in the Parliament.

The dinner was attended by opposition leader Shehbaz Sharif, Khurshid Shah, Sherry Rehman, Yusuf Raza Gilani, Raja Pervez Ashraf, Naveed Qamar, Shazia Marri, Khawaja Asif, Mohsin Dawar, Senator Hidayatullah, Azam Nazir Tarar, Asad Mahmood, Agha Hussain Baloch, Sardar Muhammad Shafiq Tareen and All the MNAs and senators of the opposition parties.

It was decided in the diner meeting that steering committee of the opposition in the Parliament will take all the decisions on behalf of the opposition in the parliament. The opposition also chalked out a unanimous strategy to negotiate with the government.

Bilawal Bhutto, while addressing the event, thanked the opposition leader in the National Assembly and President PMLN Shehbaz Sharif for uniting the opposition in the Parliament. Bilawal said that the government’s economic policies are severely hurting the people of Pakistan and sugar has become expensive than the petrol. “This is an expensive Pakistan and a common man is yearning for the old Pakistan,” he said. He said that due to joint efforts of the opposition the government had to call off the joint session of the Parliament which was scheduled for today (11th November). “Due to the opposition’s contacts with the government’s allies, the government had to retreat and cancel the joint session,” he said. Bilawal said that only the Parliament is the forum using which we can defeat Imran Khan and his policies.

Addressing the dinner Shehbaz Sharif said that opposition has achieved great success with the postponement of the joint session of the Parliament and it is also important for the opposition to trust each other.

Khawaja Asif said the reason for the postponement of the joint sitting of the Parliament was full participation of the opposition. “Attendance of members of opposition here today is our victory,” he said. He said government allies have also come to know the incompetent rulers.

He said though the joint sitting of the Parliament was postponed but we will be ready and to have to ensure our presence in the National Assembly and the Senate. “On Tuesday, just as we succeeded in the National Assembly, the government panicked and Imran Khan himself is now started to be in panic” he said. He said many of our members returned from abroad for a joint meeting “We are committed to democracy,” he said.

Khawaja Asif while welcoming Syed Khurshid Shah said as Syed Khurshid Shah has come to the assembly, good news has also started coming. Moshin Dawar said leader of the opposition Shahbaz Sharif also deserves congratulations as the opposition achieved and the Parliament has been honoured.