Chairman Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Bilawal Bhutto Zardari Friday said his party would support 'Azadi March' of Emir Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) Maulana Fazlur Rehman but would not back his plan to stage a sit-in, and made it clear that the PPP would withdraw its support if it suspected that Rehman was acting at the behest of some other force.
While talking to media persons outside the Accountability Court following the case hearing of former president Asif Ali Zardari and PPP leader Faryal Talpur, Bilawal said the PPP would support Rehman's pro-democracy demonstration but it had difference over the sit-in. "His party will support all political protests but will not take any step that can hurt the country," he said.
The PPP chairman said his party had convened the central executive committee meeting wherein it would be decided about the nature of support to the JUI-F's march. "The meeting would decide whether his party can join the JUI-F sit-in or not," he said. He said JUI-F Emir has decided to launch 'Azadi March' after consultation with his own party. "I hope that Rehman's long march will be successful," he said, adding it was desire of PPP and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) that all opposition parties should hold a joint political gathering.
Criticizing Prime Minister Imran Khan, he said Khan had undermined the Parliament and stopped it [Parliament] from doing any work. His party would continue its democratic struggle and the PPP was the only party that had continued fight against the 'selected,' he claimed, adding, "No matter how many PPP leaders they arrest, we will not compromise on the 1973 Constitution or the 18th Amendment." He said the present government had arrested its political opponents and women of their families without any conviction.
To a question about the meeting of business community with Chief of Army Staff (CoAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa, he said the business community was so fed up with the government that they went to the army chief. "God willing their problems will be resolved, but this is a very bad precedent that the people are approaching General Headquarters instead of the Parliament," he said, adding that every institution should remain within its limits and must not interfere in others' affairs.
Bilawal said, "We cannot place such a huge burden on our institutions. Our defense and intelligence institutions are supposed to deal with the elements that are conspiring against our country. If Prime Minister Khan starts directing them to deal with the elections, economy and foreign policy, when will they protect our borders, which is their foremost job? Therefore, it is mandatory that every institution should work within its domain in order to solve public problems."
He further said that policies of the government had compelled the democratic forces to take to streets. "If the people want to get rid of the inflation and high taxes, they should join hands with the PPP," he said. The PPP chairman said, "This is the right of every accused to be tried where any allegation has been levelled against him/her but in our case, unfortunately, without any explanation and against the rule of law, our case has been specially sent to Rawalpindi. Our leadership has been kept in Rawalpindi jail and our trail starts in the same city. I have stated everywhere not to involve our Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) in this case." He added the court had made a wrong decision by dragging an intelligence agency in such a controversial matter.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2019
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