Former foreign minister and PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on Monday condemned the police raid on the house of Pashtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PMAP) chief and the Sunni Ittehad Council’s presidential candidate Mahmood Khan Achakzai on Sunday, reported 24NewsHD TV channel.
In his speech on the floor of the National Assembly (NA) amidst a ruckus created by the opposition against the police raid, Bilawal Bhutto urged Balochistan Chief Minister Sarfaraz Bugti to take action against those responsible for the raid.
He also condemned not airing live of yesterday’s speech of newly-elected opposition leader Omar Ayub Khan by Pakistan Television. “For God’s sake, we need to make a departure from ex-PTI chairman Imran Khan’s tradition of banning the coverage of opposition leaders on state media when he was the country’s prime minister.”
At the same time, however, he was of the view that the presidential election was being made controversial without any reason.
Emphasizing that no party had been able to get a simple majority in the House, he extended an olive branch to the opposition and urged it to reconcile with the government. “Let us together pull the country out of the economic crisis. People are now fed up with wrangling between the political parties,” he added.
He once again stressed the need for the charter of economy between political parties, saying it was inevitable.
Bilawal claimed that these were not Forms 47 on the basis of which the PPP candidates had been elected to the National Assembly, but the sacrifices given by the party workers during the election campaign.
Addressing the opposition lawmakers, he said that they had not been returned to the NA only to make noise and disrupt the assembly proceedings, but to play a constructive role.
Bilawal made it clear to them that if they continued to level allegations against the allied parties’ leaders, the latter too had the right to respond. “If you will point fingers at us, we have the right to respond.”
He called members of the opposition making noise ‘cartoons’.
He accused Imran Khan of using the cipher case to derive political mileage out of it.
PPP chairman expressed the hope that the steps, which Shehbaz Sharif had listed yesterday in his maiden speech after getting elected as the prime minister would rid the country of economic and other crises.
He went on to say that some bureaucrats in the federal government held provinces responsible for the country’s current economic plight. “My suggestion is that provinces should be allowed to collect taxes,” he added.
Bilawal said that Rs328 billion were spent on 18 ministries, which was surely a burden on the national exchequer.
He also demanded the formation of judicial commission to probe May 9 incidents of violence. “I request Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Qazi Faez Isa to himself appoint head of the commission,” he added.
Bilawal later requested the National Assembly speaker to give Achakzai a chance to speak. However, when Achakzai, who is the PTI-SIC’s presidential candidate, stood up to speak the assembly’s YouTube livestream went blank.
During his speech, Bilawal assailed the violence that claimed the lives of several election candidates and workers, recalling the hand-grenade attacks in Balochistan and across Pakistan prior to the February 8 elections.
Bilawal urged veteran lawmakers, many of whom have been in this House six times, to make decisions that benefit the youth and coming generations. “Past decisions that have been made have completely ruined the country,” he added.
Bilawal remarked that he was disappointed by the foul language used during election of prime minister in Sunday’s National Assembly session.