Daily Times

Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on Friday said there is only one umpire in Pakistan and that is the people, a private TV channel reported.

“In a democracy and in Pakistan, it is the will of the people which is followed, not that of any third umpire,” he said while addressing the media here. Commenting on the possibility of presidential system and the roll back of the 18th Amendment, the PPP chairman reiterated that any such move will be resisted by his party. “You cannot bring a presidential system through democratic means. PPP and other democratic forces of this country will reject this,” he asserted.

The PPP chairman also narrated his party’s stance on the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), calling it a black law and an institution made by former president General (r) Pervez Musharraf for political engineering and vengeance. “PPP thinks a new system is needed … there should be across-the-board accountability for all. There needs to be one system for everyone,” he maintained. Bilawal, however, said right now it will be impossible to bring in an entirely new system. “We will try to bring this [NAB] under the rule of law as much as we can. If the government is ready for this, then we are ready to talk to them,” he said.

According to the PPP chairman, the government till now has not shown any seriousness and has failed to even pass a single bill. “They [government] have shown no interest in the parliament or the economy,” he claimed.

The PPP chairman stressed the importance of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project when asked about Prime Minister Imran Khan’s visit to Beijing to attend the Belt and Road Forum. “We think there should be no compromise on CEPC and we will not let this government make any compromise. The people of Pakistan know that this is an important project for the future of the country,” he asserted.