PDM not democratic movement without PPP, ANP: Bilawal 

PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto on Saturday said that the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) was not a democratic movement anymore as the PPP and ANP were not part of it, reported 24News HD TV channel. 

Addressing the media men in Mardan on Saturday, Bilawal said that they have not requested anyone to take them back into PDM. “You should understand, if someone had torn your show-cause notice, it means he does not want to come back,” he said, adding that he was happy for them (the PDM) and if they want to protest they could do it. But, he said, they should have given resignations first and then go for protests and public gatherings. “You are not resigning and you are taking the way to protest in the parliament and following all of my policies, then better to join PPP,” he said.  

He asked the opposition parties to learn politics from PPP it was a really democratic party that knew how to deal with dictators and incapable and unelected people. He said their allies now understand that resigning from the parliament and leaving the ground empty was a wrong decision. He said although they were not a part of PDM anymore, still, they all were together to stop the way of this incapable government. He said they would give tough time to the government. 

Bilawal said the PPP was starting a new journey and it could not go on without the leadership of our seniors. 

Commenting on the budget, he said Pakistan's inflation rate was more than Afghanistan, which his war-torn country, Bangladesh and India. It’s the real face of Imran Khan’s change, he said, adding that unemployment was at its peak and this was the real face of Imran Khan’s change. 

He said Imran Khan and his ministers were ashamed of as they hid the figures of unemployment and poverty in the economic survey. The issues can not be solved by hiding figures, he said. 

He said KP people were facing acute poverty. He further said that the PTI government should have paid attention to solve the issues of the people of KP as they had been ruling the province for the second time but unfortunately, KP had been left behind. 

He said only PPP could pull the country out of crises. “In our government, we had raised salaries of army soldiers by 175 percent.” He said we had set the minimum wage at Rs25000 in the budget of Sindh this year and they challenge other provinces to do so. 

Commenting on the upcoming AJK elections, he said that the federal government was working to rig the election. He said he had the information that with the help of the AJK Election Commission, they were trying to remove the candidates from voters’ lists. He said they would not let the government do it. He said his party would win the elections and form the government there. He said, “They (the government) think they could scare and silence us but they need to keep in mind that the PPP workers are the bravest. If we can confront the dictators, then we can face you as well,” he added.

He said the government had arrested the son of PPP senior leader Khursheed Shah who has just finished study and become a parliamentarian. He said he wanted to tell, “If you will arrest my worker’s son, I will do the same and if you arrest my seniors, I will do the same. It is not possible that PPP will always be gentle.”