ISLAMABAD      -    Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) chief Bilawal Bhutto Zardari yesterday predicted that the country will have a new prime minister next year.

Speaking at a news conference after a meeting of the PPP Core Committee, Bilawal said the government had lost confidence of the people.

“Pakistan will have a new prime minister by next year. The PPP will form a people’s government,” he said.

Bilawal said the JUI-F was in contact with the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) not the PPP. “We even don’t know what the JUI-F discussed with the PML (Quaid-e-Azam). We fulfilled the promise made with Maulana Fazlur Rehman,” he said.

Bilawal claimed the economic situation of the country was not moving into the right direction. He said those who were claiming that the economic situation of Pakistan was good should look at the miseries which the unemployed people were suffering.

He said that the PPP supported democracy. “Our foreign policy is going through a historic crisis. The burden of inflation should be less on the poor and more on the powerful, but the common man of the country has been laden with the effect of inflation. Pakistanis are bearing the burden of government’s incompetency,” he contended.

The PPP chief claimed the government had bowed down before the International Monetary Fund.

He said the PPP will observe its Youm-e-Tasees (Foundation Day) in Kashmir this year on November 30 and will announce the future course of action there.

To a question, Bilawal said that Asif Ali Zardari was not being allowed to meet his personal physician since the last six months. “Zardari has not applied for bail,” he added.

The PPP chief said his party would face persecution but would not make a compromise on its principles.

The PPP chairman said that none of the political parties had accepted results of the 2018 general elections.

Criticising the National Accountability Bureau, Bilawal said the accountability was only targeting the opposition.

“The government is a bunch of incompetent individuals. These people can neither take care of the country, nor the economy,” he said.

Bilawal said his party did not let the poor be burdened despite the worst financial crisis during its tenure but the current government increased inflation, unemployment and poverty manifolds.

He said the PPP will continue to support the Kashmiris in their right to self-determination.