Says poor paying price of govt’s incompetence
ISLAMABAD — Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has said that his party would challenge the recently passed State Bank of Pakistan Bill and other ordinances.
He also declared that there is no room for presidential system in Pakistan’s law and Constitution. The PPP chairman was talking to media outside the Parliament House on Tuesday.
He showed his apprehension that the State Bank would now see the country’s defence budget fearing that the SBP Bill could put our nuclear programme in jeopardy.
On presidential system, the PPP leader said that country’s law and constitution did not allow this form of government. “The mindset which has broached the topic of presidential form of government is actually goading people to go after the light of a truck,” Bilawal satirically remarked.
He recalled that when Pakistan cut the NATO supply on the Salala attack, even the superpower gave in and tendered its apology to Pakistan and its parliament. Bilawal deplored that the government forcefully railroaded the mini-budget from the parliament.
He said his party and other opposition parties had vehemently opposed the bill inside and outside the house. He lamented that the government vowed to abolish taxes at the time of the passage of the budget but regrettably it backed on its promise. He said the government did not withdraw taxes on solar panel and other articles.
He said the PPP in the past did politics of resistance which dealt a real blow to the government. He bemoaned that hands of parliament, government and judiciary were tied. The young PPP leader foresaw a ‘historic poverty’ that was going to hit the country. He was of the view that people were holding the burden of government’s inability.
He called upon the people to come out on streets against the government. He said the PPP would launch a long march against the government on Feb 27. “We will [start our march] from Karachi on February 27, run a campaign against the government, against the PTIMF deal and economic crisis, and for our democratic and human rights,” he said.
He said if the opposition agreed to the PPP point of view, they would rid the people of the government. He confessed that they did not have enough numbers in Senate that they could topple the government.
He said that people were demanding that they wanted to get rid of the current government. He was of the view that two long marches of the opposition would exert more pressure on government and it would be good.
“We are democratic people and we do not believe in undemocratic tactics. We will remove this government through democratic efforts,” he vowed. Bilawal expressed his resolve that his party workers would go to the constituencies of government members and their allies and would apprise the people. And through people’s power, they will make a people’s government, he added.
Bilawal said that Prime Minister Imran Khan repeatedly speaks of Riyasat-e-Madina to “draw the people’s attention away” from the government’s “economic failures”. Bilawal’s remarks came a day after Prime Minister Imran Khan’s article on the rule of law and lessons to learn from the state of Madina, was published in leading newspapers.
Citing Afghanistan as an example, where after the takeover of the Taliban, a strict interpretation of Islam is being enforced, the PPP chairman said that it is likely that the more things decline economically in the war-torn country, “talk of religion will be ramped up to divert the people’s attention”.
“Here too, as our economy witnesses a downturn, the prime minister speaks of Riyasat-e-Madina to draw the people’s attention away,” he said. “Those who attempt to divert people’s attention can say their prayers, can keep their fasts and can make arrangements for their eternal abode in heaven. We, too, will continue in our struggle,” Bilawal said. =DNA
