Daily Times

PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said on Monday that Prime Minister Imran Khan’s team is ‘incompetent and corrupt’, a private TV channel reported.

He made the comments on Monday while addressing a Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) gathering in Malakand. The political gathering was also attended by JUI-F and PDM chief Maulana Fazl ur Rehman and PML-N’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chapter chief Amir Muqam.

Bilawal said the people of Malakand chased away terrorists from Pakistan. “We remember who stood by you and who sided with the terrorists. We are proud that you wave the Pakistani flag here. You stood with the Pakistan Army and defeated the terrorists,” he added.

Bilawal also slammed the incumbent premier for calling the protesting families of the Machh massacre victims ‘blackmailers’. “What kind of justice is this? Instead of going to the victims, the prime minister called them to him.”

Speaking of the problems the country’s middle-class and poor segments were facing, the PPP chief said Pakistan’s inflation is the highest in the entire region. “We’re fighting historical poverty and inflation. This is the Naya Pakistan,” he said.

Bilawal said Imran Khan’s team consists of incompetent and corrupt individuals. “Each citizen of Malakand has only one demand and that is for the ‘selected’ to go. These ‘tabdeeli’ peddlers are frauds.” All promises he and his party had made to the people were fulfilled, he said, adding that his grandfather, former prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, had promised to abolish the Frontier Crimes Regulation (FCR) system and made good on it. He vowed to collectively work to similarly end the regime of ‘selected puppet’ premier.

Bilawal said the federal government was trying to ‘steal’ the National Finance Commission (NFC) Award share and constitutional rights of the people of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa but the opposition alliance will not allow that to happen. He said the government does not know how to run the country and that every resident of Malakand is demanding ‘Go selected go!’. “They are trying to steal your right. They want to steal the constitution but as long as the people of Malakand are standing with us, we will not allow them to do so,” he told the crowd.

Bilawal said the PPP had introduced the 18th Amendment to get provinces recognition and their rights. “Nobody can dare to steal your right. We will not let them steal your NFC Award and constitutional right,” he said, referring to Islamabad.

The PPP leader claimed that the Centre had withheld Rs160 billion which was due to be paid to KP last year. “This was KP’s money, not Islamabad’s. Imagine how many youths we could have gotten livelihoods for with that money but this puppet government wants to steal that from you. They do not know how to serve [the country],” he said.

Bilawal told the rally that the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor was envisioned by the PPP to pass through KP “but till today this inefficient government has kept you away from it”, adding that while KP produced more gas than it needed, it was not given its due share.

Referring to the PTI-led government, he said the ones who promised tabdeeli (change) lied to the public. “The people of Malakand have been tolerating this inefficient, illegitimate government for the past seven years. […] Whatever they promised turned out to be lies and betrayals,” he said, adding that the PPP had fulfilled whatever promises it made to the people of Malakand.

In his address, Muqam said Pakistan’s youth have pinned their hopes of a better future on PML-N vice-president Maryam Nawaz and Bilawal. He said Prime Minister Imran Khan is “synonym of lies and hypocrisy” who shifts blame of his incompetence to Opposition leaders. “People are tired of Imran Khan,” he said, adding that the incumbent premier had “destroyed Pakistan”.

Muqam underlined that the people of Malakand raised Pakistan’s flag high after fighting terrorists, adding that it was unfortunate that the “tyrannical” PM Imran Khan did not visit the Machh massacre victims at the time he was supposed to.