Daily Times

Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari on Thursday said his party had always been “against” the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) from the get-go; whereas PTI had always defended the anti-graft body and benefitted from it.

“Khan sb initiated a campaign to save NAB; when we demanded amendments he said that we are seeking NRO and didn’t agree on the proposed amendments,” he said at a press conference, adding that now when the new laws were introduced it is the PTI chief who has become its beneficiary. However, Bilawal said, accountability takes place all over the world.

“We will also take accountability of the NAB to see how successful the institution has been,” he said.

He accused Imran Khan of misusing his position as the prime minister and said: “Imran Khan has always said that the very name of his party is based on justice and that everyone should be held accountable.”

Bilawal said he was not in favour of banning the PTI despite the party attacking state facilities, adding that he would be the “last person” to endorse such a move.

The foreign minister – flanked by Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah and provincial information minister Sharjeel Memon – said: “I am not in favour of banning anyone. We must adopt a completely constitutional and legal procedure to ban PTI.” However, he added that declaring PTI a proscribed outfit was the last resort.

While responding to a question on whether he considered banning PTI, the foreign minister responded: “A decision cannot be taken on television based on the video evidence that has come out so far.”

Moreover, Bilawal called for PTI workers to end their violent protests, adding that the party had done “what it had to do”. “PTI should not cause more harm,” he said. “They should declare an end to violent protests and face the cases against them.” Bilawal also expressed a desire to have an outcome that would create political stability in the country

Earlier during the conference the PPP leader said that May 9 – the day when Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan was arrested from the Islamabad High Court (IHC) – was “another Black Day” in the history the country.

“The history of Pakistan several days are marked as the ‘Black Days’ and now May 9 has been added to the list.”

Violent protests erupted in Pakistan on Tuesday with dozens injured across several cities and demonstrators attacking military buildings after Khan was arrested.

Drawing parallels between the proscribed Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) – which has been outlawed as a militant outfit – and the PTI, Bilawal said that former had attacked Jinnah House in Balochistan, the latter had turned its guns towards Jinnah House in Lahore.

“I do not remember that any party has made such attacks after a two-week remand,” he said, adding “Our leaders were hanged and we did not attack the GHQ. We did not attack Corps Commander’s house”.

Harking back to the protests that erupted following the murder of Benazir Bhutto, the foreign minister said: “After the martyrdom of Bibi, the whole country erupted with anger. However, we gave a political response, and raised the slogan of Pakistan Khappe.” “We banned violence and said that democracy is the best revenge,” he recalled.

Terming PTI workers and leaders, “political terrorists”, he said that the those who were involved in crimes would have to answer. He added that PTI should shun violence and adopt a political route, stating that the Imran Khan-led party needed to decide whether they wanted to become a “political party or an anti-state party.”

Bilawal asserted that the PTI had decided that it would not give a political response to Imran Khan’s arrest and instead resort to attacking the state with “stone, batons and guns”.

Furthermore, he said: “One attack on GHQ was done by Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and another by PTI.” The foreign minister also claimed that this is not the first time that PTI has violated the constitution, recalling that Khan had violated the constitution in April of last year – when the provincial assemblies of Punjab and KP were dissolved at his behest – and no action was taken against him.

During the presser, Bilawal criticised the protestors and said “Akbar S. Babar was a member of the PTI. It was he who brought up the charge sheet of foreign funding”. “What was the fault of People’s Bus Service? KMC’s water tanker what damage did it to the captain?” He advised all political parties, including PTI, to avoid “anti-state people”.