By Ajmal Khan Yousafzai
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said on Friday that the country would have a new prime minister by next year.
Speaking to media after a meeting of the party’s core committee, the PPP chairman said that elections would be held next year and as a result, a new prime minister would be elected.
“The PPP wants elections to be held,” he said. “We don’t want to go from one selected government to another.”
Bilawal said that the chances of the prime minister going home had not decreased but on the contrary had increased.
He said that the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) did not inform the Rahbar Committee about Plan B and Plan C in detail.
“The Rahbar Committee was not informed in detail about Fazl’s talks with the Chaudhry brothers and the Plan B and C of the Azadi March,” he said.
Bilawal said that the PPP had fulfilled its promises to Fazl. He said that by next
year, a new prime minister will be in office. “I can see with certainty that by next year Imran Khan will not be the prime minister,” he said. “We will have a new prime minister next year.” In response to a question, Bilawal said that Asif Zardari was not being allowed to meet his personal physician since the last six months.
“Zardari has not applied for bail,” he said.
Bilawal said that the PPP would present its agenda on its founding day. “On our founding day, we will hold a jalsa in Azad Kashmir,” he said. Bilawal said that occupied Kashmir had been transformed into a huge jail. He said that the PPP would not stop raising its voice for the people of Kashmir.
The PPP chairman lashed out at the government for not having an economic plan in place. “Ever since this government has taken control of the country, the economic situation has taken a turn for the worse,” he said. “The common man has to pay the price in the form of increased taxes.” On the other side, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman on Friday claimed that election would be held before the next year.
Talking to the media, flanked by Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) leaders Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi and Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, the JUI-F chief said that if the prime minister had resigned the protests would not have spread to the entire country. Fazl added that his party workers will continue to block main highways across the country. “I would advise the provincial governments to let us exercise our democratic right to protest,” he told reporters.
When asked if he expects national polls to be held by the next year, he said, “2020 is very far away. Election will be held before that.”
Meanwhile, Elahi praised the JUI-F chief for holding a peaceful sit-in in the federal capital. “The large sit-in proves that Fazl is the only opposition leader in Pakistan,” Elahi said, adding that his was one was unique, compared to previous ones, where bullets were fired and people were injured.
Later, Shujaat also spoke to the media and revealed that he told Prime Minister Imran Khan that his office is an important one. “I told him that he should dispense justice. Our political party also said that this in the National Assembly (NA) that Nawaz Sharif should be allowed to leave the country for medical treatment,” he said.
The PML-Q is a coalition partner of the ruling party at the center and in the province of Punjab.
Thousands of JUI-F protesters on Friday continued to block major highways across the country as part of the party’s ‘Plan B’.
According to details, traffic flow remained affected in several parts of the country. In Karachi, protest at Hub River Road created issues for commuters leading them to use alternative routes.
