–PPP chief wants government to negotiate a better deal with IMF
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari on Tuesday said that Prime Minister Imran Khan himself sent Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supreme leader Nawaz Sharif to London and now is telling lies to the people.
Talking to the media in Lahore, he said that the government has adopted a hypocritical behaviour over Nawaz’s health. “How can you say Nawaz is a criminal? If he was a criminal and if [Imran Khan] believes that he is a criminal, then why did he let him escape?” he asked.
The PPP chief said the premier should stop pretending to save the government.
Bilawal also spoke of the ongoing cases of corruption against the opposition politicians. “We know that they are not interested in the corruption cases,” he said, adding that the prime minister’s motive was to continue his “puppet-show rule”.
“Imran’s puppet-show rule sometimes strangles the media and sometimes usurps the civil society’s the freedom of expression,” he noted.
“His system is to defend his puppet-show rule,” the PPP chief said. “When Mian sahab [Nawaz] did not listen to the voice of the parliament, we raised our voices. Mian sahab is not in power now so there is no need to oppose him,” he added.
Bilawal said that his party wants to work with the opposition to put pressure on the government. “PPP is the only party which raised voice for the poor and unemployed in the past. When we were in power, we raised the wages and pensions of the people to enable them to counter economic difficulties,” he said.
He also said that people are currently facing economic difficulties. “We do not want the prime minister to commit suicide for approaching the International Monetary Fund (IMF), but rather we want them to go back to the international lender and strike a better deal in favour of the people of Pakistan,” he added.
He further said that it is unfortunate that the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government is against the civil society and the national and international NGOs. “These NGOs work for the people of Pakistan like the civil society which works for the education, human rights and similar causes,” he added.
The PPP chief said that the government itself has admitted that inflation has increased during its tenure. “The people can judge themselves whether they are poorer or better during PTI’s tenure,” he said.
He said that the government’s focus should be on improving the lives of the people instead of returning money to the IMF.
Responding to a question, he said that PPP wants the government to take action against terrorist outfits if they operate in the country.
In response to another question, he said that missing persons issue is a problem which needs to be resolved and PPP will play an active role in this regard.
When asked about his father, former president Asif Ali Zardari, Bilawal said that he was not treated well during his time in custody but now that he is receiving proper care.
Speaking about the Afghan peace process, he said that he hopes that the neighbouring country soon sees peace. “Peace is impossible unless the process is led by the Afghan people themselves,” he said, adding that if talks are held only between the Taliban and the United States then the Afghan people would be left out.
“We have seen many wars in our regions and now we hope for peace to prevail,” he concluded.
