‘Are you a political party or terrorist outfit,’ Bilawal asks PTI

ISLAMABAD    -    Foreign Minister and Chairman Pakistan People’s Party [PPP] Bi­lawal Bhutto Zardari in a joint sitting of parliament yesterday asked Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf [PTI] to decide if it was a political party or a terrorist organization.

"PTI did not call for peaceful protests nor political gatherings. It decided to opt for a violent re­sponse instead and now it chose to act as a terrorist organisation rather than a political party," said Bilawal while commenting on the violent protests across the country.

He said that the unprecedent­ed violent protests all over the country are deplorable. He said that if the PTI is a political party, then it should first condemn the arson attacks and violence - per­petrated during the widespread protests following the arrest of protests all over the country are deplorable. He said that if the PTI is a political par­ty, then it should first con­demn the arson attacks and violence - perpetrated during the widespread protests fol­lowing the arrest of party chairman Imran Khan - and apologise. “If it does not apol­ogise, then we will not ne­gotiate with a militant party, whether on the instructions of the chief justice or any­one else,” he asserted. About PTI Chairman Imran Khan, he said a man who during his tenure, would not tire of sing­ing NAB’s praises, and took sadistic pleasure in torment­ing his political opponents, having Nawaz Sharif and his daughter be arrested, along with the then leader of the opposition, who was a can­cer patient. “He [Imran Khan] wanted to compel the Chair­man NAB to arrest President Zardari and Faryal Talpur, the latter was hospitalised in Is­lamabad,” he said adding that the interior minister of the time in a cabinet meeting had warned Imran Khan that they too would be in the opposi­tion someday. “Today, Imran Khan is criticising the very same NAB that he was so fond of. Had someone from our side been involved in such a case, we would have been put behind bars without a second thought,” he said. In response to Imran Khan’s arrest, he said that the PTI chief did not call for peaceful protests nor political gatherings. It decided to opt for a violent response instead. It chose to act as a terrorist organi­sation rather than a politi­cal party. “Instead of greet­ing the culprit with ‘Nice to see you’ remarks, the court should have condemned the militant organisation and terrorism,” he said. “It is ul­timately our responsibility to redirect the system and the democracy towards the correct path. All institutions should work within their constitutional domains for the betterment of the coun­try,” he said.