By Asghar Ali Mubarak
ISLAMABAD: Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said on Monday it seemed the opposition did not learn from the past.
“Dragging politics to personal animosity harms the state and there is an urgent need for cooperation to resolve the issues affecting the nation,” said Bilawal while addressing the National Assembly session.
The PPP chairman said, “Perhaps this will be the last session of the National Assembly mentioning that efforts should be made to move things towards reconciliation as the polls are near.”
He said that old Charter of Democracy should be followed, not the new one while mentioning that only through following the clear rules of game, the country would make progress.
The foreign minister stressed that the journey from the opposition to the government would be re-membered mentioning that the PPP always presented its point of view in the assembly and added that even during the PTI period, the PPP protested by staying in the democratic circle.
He said that the work of the opposition was to highlight the wrong policies of the government stress-ing that the PTI’s government did not care about democracy, parliament and its workers and it crossed the redline which no one has done in history.
Moreover, Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari on Monday stated that while opposing the “selected government” — a term he uses for previous Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government — he had asserted that institutions should work within their boundaries, but admitted that efforts to confine institutions within those limits have not been successful.
“I had urged Nawaz Sharif and Asif Ali Zardari to make decisions that would simplify the politics of both myself and Maryam Nawaz. However, it seems that the next 30 years will follow the same pattern as the past 30,” he said during his farewell address in the National Assembly.
Bilawal stated that every child’s desire is to meet their elders’ expectations. “I tried to take forward the legacy of my elders and tried to not take action that led to the benefit of the undemocratic forces,” he added.
He stated that sending former prime minister Imran Khan home via a no-confidence motion was a historic step. “Only history will determine if our efforts in strengthening democracy have been successful or not,” he continued.
Pointing towards the events of May 9, Bilawal said that the actions of the opposition party prompted response from the state, adding that Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) learnt nothing from the past. “The imprisonment of the PTI chief is karma.”
He said that unfortunately, the current government had to deal with an opposition which had attacked Jinnah House and military installations.
“Political parties should conduct politics in a manner that leads the situation towards reconciliation,” he added.
He further said that the Charter of Democracy (CoD) was the need of the hour.
