KANDHKOT - Pakistan Peoples Party Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has questioned why Prime Minister Imran Khan ardently supports Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar who has nothing impressive about him.

Talking to reporters after addressing a rally commemorating the first death anniversary of Mir Hazar Khan Bijrani, he alleged Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf of hatching conspiracies to oust PPP from Sindh.

He also reiterated his party’s claim that plans were being prepared to attack 18th Constitutional Amendment which they would foil.

“A first-class team was [supposedly] prepared for Pakistan’s biggest province and what was that – Buzdar?” Bilawal exclaimed.

“There were a lot of hopefuls for the seat of Punjab chief minister but in the last minute Buzdar Saab turned up... What is it about Buzdar that the prime minister supports him so staunchly?”

Regarding the prime minister’s likening of Punjab CM with ace cricketer Wasim Akram, the PPP leader said that “even Wasim Akram asks what his fault was [that he’s been downgraded by comparing him to a minion].”

Earlier during his address to the rally and later in his media talk, Bilawal also asserted that the 18th Constitutional Amendment, which protects rights of Sindh and the other provinces, has been under threat.

He said the People’s Party restored the Bhutto’s given constitution in its true essence and lamented that the “federal government is not implementing the 18th Amendment. There are attempts to snatch the institutions that were established by the Sindh government.”

The PPP will not allow any harm to the 18th amendment, he said. The People’s Party, along with other political parties, has decided that no compromise will be made over the human and economic rights of all Pakistani citizens, he added.

“We will not only explore legal and political options to protect the 18th Amendment but will also raise the matter inside and outside the Parliament,” he added.

The PPP chairman said that as the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf has failed to defeat the People’s Party in Sindh, it now intends to remove them from power through conspiracies.

He alleged that Sindh’s ‘world class’ institutions such as the NICVD, NICH and Jinnah hospital were being taken away from the province. Sindh has yet to be given its Rs90 billion for development funds, he added. “They [the federal government] are doing it on purpose. They know they can’t defeat us in the elections so they have even made fake JIT reports,” Bilawal further alleged.

“The ‘selected government’ has no respect for the mandate of the people but mind that no conspiracies will ever succeed against the PPP. “We have seen a lot of difficult times and this ‘puppet’ prime minister cannot create any hurdles in our way”.

Bilawal asserted that “while in cricket an umpire calls the shots, in politics it’s the will of the people that prevails”.

The PTI-led government, which had promised to create millions of jobs, has taken away people’s employment after coming into power, he said. “Unemployment has been rising in every sector since the new government took over,” he added.

Asked about centralising the regulation of media, he called it an attack on the freedom of the press and media. “The federal government is part of this conspiracy,” he remarked.

Lavishing praise at late Mir Hazar Bijrani, Bilawal said that Hazar was a comrade of Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and Benazir Bhutto. He served the country and the province.

The PPP co-chairman was flanked by other PPP leaders including Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah on the occasion.