LAHORE -  PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari Monday said his party was ready to support the government on the issue of delimitations if the latter was also willing to address its concerns on the population census.

“PPP will swallow this bitter pill provided the government also shows flexibility”, he said while talking to the media at the residence of a diehard PPP Jiayala late Muhammad Siddique alias Harra Saein at Hameed Nizami Road on Monday afternoon.

Bilawal had gone there to offer his condolence to the bereaved family. A great fan of ZA Bhutto and his daughter Benazir Bhutto, Harra Saein died last month after protracted illness.

PPP chairman alleged that government had made the issue of population census controversial from the very beginning by refusing to share the initial data with the provinces. He said several discrepancies have been found in the census results which must be corrected before starting the process of delimitations.

Quoting the figures of Nadra complied before the last census, Bilawal said Karachi’s population has been shown less by six million in the new count. Similarly, he added, the number of persons per household in Sindh has been recorded as six while in Punjab it was seven persons.

Bilawal also stressed the need for holding timely elections to ensure smooth transfer of power from one civilian government to another. He laughed at PTI’s demand for early elections, saying he did not know as to why Mr Khan was in great hurray. “Perhaps, he fears defeat if the elections are held on time”, he observed.

PPP chairman claimed that his party will perform better in 2018  elections. He also called the ruling PML-N a “Nakam (failed) league which always failed to resolve people’s problems.

Answering a question on the short-lived merger of two factions of the MQM, the PPP leader said that it was a disgrace to people of Karachi who deserved better representation. He also said that Establishment should have no role in the making or breaking of political parties. He said Establishment should now respond to the allegations leveled by a faction of the MQM.

He said efforts were being made to contain the PPP influence in Punjab, but the opponents won’t succeed in their designs.

To a question about former president Pervaiz Musharraf, he said Musharraf was an absconder who would be brought to Pakistan hand-cuffed before the court of law. Bilawal said that Musharraf was wanted in the murder of a former prime minister and Baloch leader Akbar Khan Bugti besides the treason case pending in the court. “Law is equal for everybody”, he said.