Daily Times

Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari Thursday said his party will never compromise on rights of the provinces, adding that Prime Minister Imran Khan could not find enough courage to come to parliament and respond to opposition’s queries face-to-face.

The PPP chairman took a jibe at the prime minister over his tweet in which he questioned as to why some lawmakers were ‘so scared’ of the ECL. “A day earlier, the Supreme Court ordered that my name by removed from the ECL and this morning the prime minister tweeted about it. It would have been better if he had come to the House and spoke about these matters instead of tweeting about them,” Bilawal said. “PM Imran should have spoken about these matters face-to-face so that we could have responded directly. However, he cannot have the courage to do so,” he said. “I don’t care if they remove my name [from the ECL] or not; it’s not a favour to me,” he asserted on the floor of the Lower House.

Bilawal, however, assured full support by his party if democracy was attacked by ‘undemocratic forces’. “We wish that PTI completes its tenure just like the other two previous governments completed their constitutional tenures,” he said. “We also wish that PTI-led government addresses public issues,” he added.

The PPP chief also talked about the apex court’s recent verdict, rejecting the Sindh government’s request for ownership of three major Karachi hospitals. “If the apex court takes away these hospitals from Sindh, it will be impossible for me to explain to my people how this is not an attack on the 18th Amendment,” he said.

Addressing the treasury benches, Bilawal said, “You people have been asking for donations from all over the world. How would you arrange Rs 14 billion to continue the facility of free treatment at NICVD?” he questioned.

Further talking about the 18th Amendment, he said that provinces cannot compromise on their economic rights. “PPP will not allow any comprise on the financial matters of provinces. We will strongly oppose any action against the 18th Amendment,” he asserted.

The PPP chairman further said the opposition parties will not allow any compromise on democratic and fundamental rights. “The government’s allies including Akhtar Mengal and PML-Q are also supporting us and soon PTI members will too,” he added.

Earlier, PPP leader Khurshid Shah raised the issue of ‘dis-functional’ parliamentary committee tasked to probe irregularities in the last general election. “The government has just set up the committee, which even could not finalize the terms of reference so far,” he said, and demanded that the government clarify its position over the wrongdoings in the general election. Raja Pervaiz Ashraf said it was joke with the parliament that the committee could not start its work as yet.

Published in Daily Times, January 18^th 2019.