PPP to celebrate departure of selected: Bilawal

ISLAMABAD: Chairman of the Pakistan Peoples Party Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has announced celebrations throughout the country on what he called the end of the ‘selected and puppet’ government of Imran Khan. Meanwhile, in an interview to BBC, he asked the institutions to clarify the NSC statement.

“The PPP will hold Iftar parties at district level across the country due to Ramazan and will celebrate the departure of the selected and puppet government through democratic action and Khan’s spoiled dreams to rule the country for a decade,” the PPP chairman said on Tuesday while addressing a press conference after a meeting of the Central Executive Committee of his party. 

Bilawal demanded clarity from the members of the National Security Committee on the proceedings of the meeting as Imran Khan had been using ‘foreign conspiracy’ to justify his unconstitutional action.

“Did the military leadership in the National Security Committee declare all the opposition leaders as traitors, and it needs to clarify. If we are part of a foreign conspiracy, then we should be arrested and prosecuted,” he said. The PPP leader reiterated his demand from the members of the NSC to clarify the situation, saying they wanted a clarification on the issue of treason. “The minutes of the National Security Committee should be brought forward," he said adding that there is nothing in the press release of the NSC about the foreign conspiracy.

Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said whatever diplomatic communication had taken place, should be opened for public and the reports of the premier intelligence agencies of the country should also be brought to light. “This is Imran Khan’s lie, we don’t want any certification of treason or patriotism from Imran Khan,” he said. The chairman PPP said the NSC was deliberately being used and until the explanation of the committee would come, we would continue with our protest. “The protest of PPP and united opposition will be hard to deal by the authorities,” he warned.

The PPP chairman said Imran Khan was using the Foreign Office to save his PM’s chair by making it controversial. “We will not allow such a blame game of calling the opposition leaders traitors,” he said. Bilawal said Imran Khan utilised the diplomatic letter, when he saw the majority was gone in the parliament. “There was no intelligence report of foreign conspiracy and until the issue of accusation is resolved, PPP and opposition will continue to protest,” he added. He said the CEC of the party has decided to take up the issue of removal of Khyber Pukhtunkhwa, Azad Jammu & Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan governments through no-confidence motions.

Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said the opposition has been struggling to remove the ‘selected’ from the post and also it was their resolve to protect the Constitution. In reply to a question, the chairman PPP said that he did not think that Imran Khan's narrative had become popular as the people would vote in the elections on the issue of economic policies, inflation and unemployment. “If Imran fought against America, we will fight for the people of Pakistan, who were suffering from high inflation and unemployment,” he added.

To another question, Bilawal said Maulana Fazlur Rehman had rightly said that if the treason issue was not settled, then there would be a big protest, which was never carried out in the country's history. He said no one could declare traitor anyone on the basis of a fake letter.

The chairman PPP said the puppet could not survive when all the political parties campaigned together in the parliament. “The captain fled from the pitch along with the wickets, we have never seen such a coward person,” he added.

In reply to a question, Bilawal said for the PPP, the only way out of this constitutional crisis was for the court to do justice and the vote of no-confidence should begin where it was stopped.

Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said due to Imran’s selection, all the institutions of the country became controversial. “We want to restore democracy. Institutions have a chance to become uncontroversial and we want to restore the dignity of Parliament,” he retreated. He said during the tenure of Justice Saqib Nisar and Justice Gulzar, the judiciary was made controversial and there is an opportunity for all of us to wash away the stains that have befallen us and to oust Imran Khan through democracy. “Our establishment was made controversial due to selection of 2018 elections, and now the opportunity for all of us to wash away the stains,” he said.

To a question, he said the next CEC of the PPP will be held after the decision of the Supreme Court. To a question, Chairman Bilawal said that 'Pakistan is at a fork of the road, we can either return to a democratic and less polarized environment or take the path where the next elections will also be disputed'. “If we do not rectify our mistakes, then I can see violence. Imran is using the foreign conspiracy and levelling false accusations to save himself by using the national security forum,” he said.

Responding to the questions of the journalists, Chairman PPP said that Imran abused the diplomatic cable. “I want clarification on it. Imran's narrative is not selling because every Pakistani is bearing the cost of his economic policies,” he said.

He said the people will vote for their economic well being and not the false foreign policy. Answering a question, Chairman Bilawal said that he 100% agrees with Maulana Fazlur Rehman, if the matter is not resolved, then we will protest so strongly that it will be historic. I will lead that protest with Maulana sahib in every nook and corner of the country.

Meanwhile, PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said Tuesday the institutions should clarify the National Security Committee’s statement because Prime Minister Imran Khan had used it politically to declare 197 members of the Parliament, who represent 70 per cent of the country’s population, traitors. He was responding to a BBC interviewer who asked him if he wanted an explanation from the Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR).

When asked what his objection was to going to polls called by Prime Minister Imran Khan while the opposition also wanted the same, Bilawal said the opposition had resorted to a constitutional way to remove the PM to rid the people of poverty, inflation and unemployment, but he escaped and staged a coup against the parliament. That is why we are fighting for the constitution in the court, he added.

To another question about the PM’s surprise move of dissolving the National Assembly, Bilawal said that what Imran Khan has done is not surprise, it is treason. When asked if Pakistan was regressing into the politics of 1990s, Bilawal said he doesn’t think Pakistan is there. He said Imran does not know what are implications of his actions.

“Today, he is celebrating while we dismantled his government. He was also clapping when I called him selected. He needed time to understand what I meant by calling him selected,” Bilawal said, adding the opposition wanted to send Imran home in a democratic way.