PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari addresses his party’s 55th founding day
Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari on Wednesday predicted that the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) will never quit the Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa assemblies.
“Don’t you remember that after PTI resigned from the National Assembly and the by-polls were set to take place, they moved the courts and plead that their resignations were just a political stunt?” he asked the public at a ceremony in Karachi marking the 55th anniversary of the PPP’s formation. “If you want to resign, then go ahead. The PPP is ready to face you; PPP is not afraid of puppets and selected actors,” he said, adding that Khan was “lying” as per his habit of repeatedly going back on his word.
The PTI chief, last week, concluded his long march—at Rawalpindi rather than Islamabad—by announcing that his party would quit all assemblies, as it did not wish to be part of a “corrupt” system. Political analysts have observed that while Khan would face no issue in dissolving the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Assembly, he would have a tough time convincing Punjab Chief Minister Parvez Elahi, despite the Pakistan Muslim League (Quaid) leader he was ready to dissolve the government whenever Khan wished. Opposition parties, who are part of the ruling coalition in Islamabad, have vowed to resist any attempt to dissolve the provincial governments, maintaining they should complete their constitutional term.
Referring to Khan’s long march, Bilawal said the ousted prime minister had “fled” from Rawalpindi. “The coward beat a hasty retreat just like he did at the time of no-confidence motion,” he said, reiterating that even if he did quit the assemblies, the PPP was ready to face him in elections. “We’re not afraid of you,” he said.
In an apparent reference to pro-establishment politicians, the PPP chairman said the Army’s decision to remain ‘apolitical’ had left several “puppet” politicians worried about their future. “The institution has accepted its mistake. But now, they [puppet politicians] are worried that if the institution has become neutral, then what will become of their politics,” he said, adding he and the PPP would thwart any anti-democratic forces and continue fighting against “enemies” of democracy. He also accused the PTI of spreading “chaos” in the country to save “watch thief” Khan, his sister Aleema Khan, and Farah Gogi—a close friend of Khan’s wife, Bushra Bibi—from accountability.
East Pakistan
During his speech, the foreign minister also appeared to hit back at a recent speech of former Army chief Gen. Qamar Javed Bajwa, insisting that the fall of Dhaka in 1971 was a “military failure.” Claiming his grandfather, PPP founder Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, had taken up the challenge to reunite the “disintegrated country” and “regain lost glory” after 1971, he recalled that he had brought back 90,000 troops who had been prisoners of war. “Those 90,000 soldiers were reunited with their families. And that all was made possible due to politics of hope… of unity… and inclusion,” he said.
Last week, in his final public address, Gen. (retd.) Bajwa had described the fall of East Pakistan as a “political failure,” claiming the military had been vastly outnumbered and should be respected for its sacrifices.
Earlier, the foreign minister commenced his speech by thanking the people of Karachi for coming out in huge numbers and paid tributes to his mother, former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, and his grandfather for their services to the country. He claimed a “jiyala” would be elected Karachi’s mayor when the local body elections—scheduled for January 2023—took place.