Electoral reforms imperative before polls, says Bilawal

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan People’s Party Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said on Wednesday that the PPP worked with a coalition government to oust Imran Khan through a no-confidence motion.

"He tried to thwart our moves with what amounts to a constitutional coup, but the Supreme Court of Pakistan decided against him. “Ultimately, the parliament finished the democratic process to vote him out of office," he said in an interview with CNN.

Answering a question regarding Chairman Bilawal being a foreign minister under a PM not from his own party, he said it would be difficult for the party to stomach, being the second-largest member of the coalition. “However, we do have to work together to address Pakistan’s problems.

"I would follow whatever the party decides in the better interest of the nation,” he said. Bilawal said all parties that are in the alliance that has defeated Imran Khan must work together for restoration of democracy, electoral reforms and try to address the economic issues. "We absolutely want free and fair elections, but in order for them to take place, we must legislate when it comes to the electoral reforms,” he said. He said as everybody knows, the 2018 elections that Khan used to come to power have been widely seen and condemned not only nationally but internationally as rigged and compromised elections that resulted in three years of an autocratic dictatorial rule through the office of Imran Khan.

"He not only robbed our media of freedoms but robbed average Pakistanis of their democratic rights that they we had just recently started to enjoy," he said. The PPP chairman said it was a big victory for democracy that “we are moving towards electoral reforms and free and fair elections.

"We are not a selected government like Imran Khan’s but a government that is truly representative of the people of Pakistan and can decide their fate," he said. Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said the American people would be able to relate to what Pakistan is going through right now. He said Pakistan just recently experienced our equivalent to America’s January 6th moment. "Imran Khan despite knowing that he had lost his majority in the parliament tried acting through his speaker to conduct a constitutional coup,” he said. He said Imran Khan has come up with a big lie of an international conspiracy, led by the United States, to oust him when the fact is that he is the first PM in the history of Pakistan to have been ousted through constitutional, democratic means. "This is a massive victory for Pakistan’s democracy," he said.

Bilawal said as far as his support is concerned, little fascists all over the world enjoy their cult following, but that does not mean that the majority of Pakistan should be dictated to by these fascist regimes. As far as Imran Khan’s support in the public is concerned, he said his position represents 30pc of the people of Pakistan’s votes. "Whereas, our coalition represents 70pc of the people of Pakistan’s votes," he said.

The PPP chairman said as far as Pakistan’s relations with the West or any other country are concerned, Imran Khan despite being extremely anti-American in his rhetoric when he is out of government, when he was is the government and Mr. Trump was the President of the US, Imran has enjoyed very cordial relations with him. He said “It is true that since President Biden has taken over and following the complexities in there have been difficulties between the US and Pakistan’s relations.

"Mr. Khan is manipulating the series of events to try and create this perception that there is some grand conspiracy when the fact of the matter is that there is none," he said. He said our decision to bring a vote of no-confidence was taken much before Imran Khan’s visit to Russia on the eve of the Ukrainian crisis. Bilawal said since Imran Khan was removed through a democratic process, because he does not have any narrative that allows him to be presented as a victim, he is relying on Pakistanis’ general anti-American sentiment.

"He is trying to provoke a very dangerous situation where he has declared 70pc of the parliamentarians, that represent 70pc of the people’s mandate, as traitors unilaterally," he said.