Staff Report
ISLAMABAD: Saying that the prime minister is resorting to “rigging” in the face of defeat during the upcoming vote of no-confidence in the National Assembly, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari has said that Imran Khan is an “undemocratic” person who only believes in “fixing matches”.
“Prime minister is panicking now and has now resorted to cursing his opponents because he can see his defeat… if he is an honourable person, he should just step aside but he is an undemocratic person who does not believe in democracy, law or justice… he only believes in fixing matches,” he said during a news conference in Islamabad on Sunday.
The premier, Bilawal said, is trying to “rig his way out of the trouble”, adding that the opposition and the people of the country will not let that happen.
“All democratic forces of this country are using their right to challenge an undemocratic person… this is our constitutional right… all members of the National Assembly are free to use their right to vote in parliament,” he added.
The PPP chief said that the government, after exhausting all its options, has no way to succeed except by rigging but added that the opposition is aware of such tactics.
“If he [PM Imran] had sufficient numbers would he have been panicking,” Bilawal said while responding to a question by a journalist and urged the NA Speaker to immediately call the session so the opposition could prove its claim.
“They [government] cannot even trust their own members forget about other members [opposition and allies]… the no-trust vote in NA will succeed beyond your expectations,” he also said.
Bilawal lamented the language used by the premier against the members of the opposition during his latest statement, saying that even they know how to respond to such vulgar language but they will not stoop to such low levels of communication.
He said that since PM Imran did not have the numbers in parliament, he is trying to increase his numbers during his rallies. “He is forcing the school children to come to his public gatherings… All patwaris are being tasked to bring in at least 5,000 people.”
Bilawal claimed that the prime minister has only a few days left and he still believes the time is still right for him to simply resign like an honourable person. “Your way of politics is not only detrimental for you but also for your party… It will have to bear the burden of your mistakes.”
Answering a question about the future strategy of the opposition if the no-trust vote succeeds, the PPP chairman said that they will first seek electoral reforms and will go for new elections.
“Every member of parliament whether he belongs to the opposition or treasury benches has the right to vote in the house but there is a conspiracy to deprive the parliamentarians of this right. We will not tolerate this and we appeal to every single person, every single democratic civilian institution in fact every single individual who has sworn in the oath to protect and defend the Constitution of Pakistan to ensure the constitutional process is followed to ensure that the parliamentarians are allowed to exercise their right to vote.”
He appealed to Chief Justice Supreme Court, Chief Justice Islamabad High Court and Chief Election Commissioner to ensure that all members of NA are allowed to exercise their constitutional rights.
To a question regarding the role of government allies, Bilawal said that his party had a few issues with Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) in the past, urging the government’s ally to work together again for the betterment of Pakistan and Sindh again.
“When we fight, others take advantage of that… the MQM-P is a stakeholder of Karachi but a distance was created between the PPP and the MQM-P under a conspiracy,” he added.
