Daily Times

PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari on Sunday vowed that that January will be the incumbent government’s ‘last month in power’.

While addressing a rally in Peshawar arranged by the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM), Bilawal said the people will decide how Pakistan will be governed and what kind of leadership will rule it. He claimed protests are taking place in Gilgit-Baltistan against election rigging there. “A voice is rising from within Gilgit-Baltistan, saying ‘do not rob the vote’,” Bilawal said.

Addressing the people of the province in particular, he said they will never be left to fend for themselves, accusing the incumbent government of abandoning them. “The entire Pakhtunkhwa is demanding ‘go, Imran, go!’,” he claimed, adding: “This is the land of the brave, the honourable.” He said that the people of the land had given innumerable sacrifices in the fight against terrorism “but the selected did not dare raise his voice against terrorists”.

Bilawal said that terrorism has reared its ugly head once more and “we will not allow this puppet to let it take hold again”. “We know how to safeguard this land,” he added.

The PPP chairman said that the “burden of the selected government” is being borne by the common man. “First there was a flour, sugar, and oil crisis, and now a gas crisis will arise,” he said, adding that people cannot even buy eggs, let alone chicken any more at the rates they are going for.

Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (Fazl) Chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman, during his address, extended condolences to PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif and his family over the demise over the latter’s mother. Earlier PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz, after receiving word of her grandmother’s passing, told the crowd that she would not be able to address the rally.

Rehman also extended condolence to the family and followers of Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) Khadim Hussain Rizvi, who passed away on Thursday.

The JUI-F chief once again alleged that the 2018 general elections had been rigged and said that all political parties were in agreement on this point. Rehman said that the government was “flustered” by PDM’s rallies and added the rulers “should now be shamed and sent home”. “Our stance is very clear. Rigging has been done, we know who was behind it and the one who is na maloom (unknown), we all know who that is,” said the JUI-F leader.

Peshawar was on high alert as the PDM held a rally at Ring Road amid security threats and the risk of the spread of coronavirus. The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government had issued an advisory, warning about the “threat of terrorism” during the opposition’s rally.