ISLAMABAD: Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto on Monday said that his party will not tolerate any technocrat or national government in the country.
During an interview to a private TV channel, Bilawal said, “The PML-N is misleading the nation in this regard … they are overplaying and maybe they are trying to provoke it. I don’t think this [technocrat or national government] is going to happen.”.
“We cannot support unconstitutional steps. PPP has always been pro-people. Our founding principle is that people are the source of power,” he said, adding that the issue is that people are either with democracy or with corruption and being the grandson of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and son of Benazir Bhutto, he will be siding with the democracy.
The PPP chief alleged that Nawaz Sharif took certain controversial steps in his tenure which had harmed the essence of democracy.
He rejected the perception that the PTI had captured the votes of youngsters – 44 per cent of the total electoral vote. He claimed the PPP got more vote from youth than PTI. “PTI has been encashing popular slogans which will benefit them only in short term but not in the longer run,” he said. The anti-corruption slogans are being used for political re-engineering, he said, adding that Bhutto was the first leader who had run a campaign against corruption. When asked about his own mode of politics, the PPP chairman said, “Unfortunately, politicians across the world are playing a dangerous game, they do the politics of hatred but I do not want to engage in such politics.” He also rejected the impression that the PPP was on a downward spiral, instead, he said, “I am hopeful that PPP will regain its space.” Commenting on the corruption charges against PPP lawmakers, Bilawal warned that the method of ‘selective accountability’ will not work. “Our party members were picked in a polarised manner and the motives were politically motivated,” he alleged. They were picked without having any substantial pieces of evidence against them, he maintained.
“It is too ridiculous,” he reacted in an apparently emotional manner when asked about the allegations that the party showed leniency in BB murder case and the reported allegations that Asif Ali Zardari was somehow involved in the murder. “She was my mother. How is it possible that other people are more concerned than me in this regard. The party made headway in connection with the BB murder case.”
Responding to a question on the economy, he said the focus of their party-led government has always been on the economy. “PPP believes it would have to deliver in both public and private sectors,” he said, adding that it takes 300 days to establish a business in Pakistan while the West the period is just 15 days.
Published in Daily Times, October 31st 2017.
.jpg)