Daily Times

LARKANA: Putting the anti-Nawaz government campaign in the cold storage, the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) leadership on Tuesday announced that Asif Ali Zardari and his son Bilawal Bhutto Zardari would contest the election and take part in parliamentary politics together.

Addressing a large number of party workers who had gathered to mark the ninth death anniversary of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, PPP Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari said that he would contest elections from his sister’s constituency in Nawabshah, whereas Bilawal would contest from his constituency in Larkana.

“We have rendered so much sacrifices for democracy. We will not spare this Mughal emperor [Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif],” he said.

Firing broadsides at Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, the former president said he was not afraid of courts and his party members would face all cases against them. “We have fought the country’s dictators but never raised a voice against the army,” he said.

Addressing the premier, Zardari said, “I am not coming to parliament to topple your government.”

He said his only intention was to “teach the government a few lessons” and to talk to the prime minister on national issues.

After his return to Pakistan from an 18-month self-imposed exile, Zardari demanded that the Supreme Court (SC) decision on Panamagate be brought to the floor of parliament and be vetted by all political parties.

“We would like to see you and your judges go down in history as respectable individuals, not as people who twist the law for their own gains,” he added. “This is our right. We will protest, exercise our democratic right and go to parliament… go to the courts and the bar councils, and talk about what is happening and what should be happening,” Zardari said.

Later, Bilawal took the dais and asked the PPP supporters to get ready for a possible long march against the Nawaz government.

He had asked the government fulfil his party’s four demands, but the rulers did not pay any heed.

“Principally, we have decided that we have to start preparing for a long march,” Bilawal announced. “I will start paying visits to cities across the country to get my four demands met.”

However, he said, the party had yet to debate the matter in its Central Executive Committee meeting.

Bilawal took a strong stand on the Panamagate controversy, calling for Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to present himself for accountability and allow passage of the Panama bill in the National Assembly.

Despite the premier’s assertions that the party was free of scandals, Bilawal asserted the PML-N was embroiled in the same.

“Do you think us simple? That we don’t know you at all?” he questioned. He alleged the government was “full of scandals”. “The opposition in the Senate has passed the Panama bill. If you obstruct its passage in the National Assembly, you will have to face the opposition’s protests,” the PPP chairman warned.

“On one hand you want to present yourself for accountability, but on the other you continue to obstruct the Panama bill in the National Assembly,” Bilawal said, adding that the party did not want to approach the apex court without the bill. “The courts have never delivered justice to us [the PPP],” he claimed. “Will they provide justice to the people of Pakistan?” he asked. “This is why we want to get this bill passed and [then] go to the Supreme Court.”

Bilawal lashed out at the PML-N government on multiple fronts, including terrorism and religious extremism.

“The world wants to call us a terrorist state… people in your cabinet facilitate terrorists,” Bilawal alleged.

“My parents have taught me to respect my elders. But that does not mean we cannot disagree on our politics,” Bilawal said, adding he would not stay quiet when he “sees the federation fall apart” because of the government’s ineffective policies. On the occasion, Bilawal paid tribute to his grandfather, PPP founder Zulfiiar Ali Bhutto, and mother Benazir Bhutto. “Millions of people die every year, but the vision, the ideology and the courage of some people lasts forever,” he said.