Daily Times

Firing a fresh salvo at the PTI-led “grand opposition alliance”, PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari has said that they are hatching a conspiracy against the country under the garb of poll rigging claims.

Bilawal made the remarks while addressing a public gathering at Garhi Khuda Bakhsh in Larkana on Sunday in connection with 45th death anniversary of former prime minister Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto.

“Many forces did not believe in democracy. They used to hatch conspiracies but President Asif Ali Zardari foiled their designs.” Taking a veiled jab at the six-party opposition alliance, the former foreign minister said that some politician wanted to launch PNA-II. The Pakistan National Alliance (PNA), a nine-party alliance, was launched in 1977 against the Bhutto-led government. Without naming Imran Khan, Bilawal said that some politicians play with the fate of the country and people for the sake of “personal ego”. “Now they are hatching conspiracy against the country and its economy by beating the drums of [electoral] rigging,” he added.

His remarks came a day after the PTI-led opposition alliance – including Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC), Jamaat-e-Islami (JI), Balochistan National Party-Mengal (BNP), Majlis Wahdat-e-Muslimeen (MWM) and Pashtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP) – launched its protest movement with a power show in Balochistan’s Pishin district.

Stressing the need for “national reconciliation” to steer the country out of the crisis, the PPP leader said that the country would not progress if they do the “politics of abuses”. He urged the politicians to stay in their ambit prescribed in the Constitution. If the democracy is derailed, masses would be the first who suffer loss, warned the PPP leader. “Politicians utmost priority should be steering the country out of crisis.”

For his part, PPP co-chairman and President Asif Ali Zardari said his party would continue to support the government for economic stability and prosperity in the country. Addressing the public gathering, he said: “Pakistan is blessed with vast potential of minerals and natural resources and we will emerge from current economic crisis through exploitation of these resources.”