ISLAMABAD - Pakistan People’s Party chief Bilawal Bhutto Zardari yesterday said that the government will be ultimately defeated due to the alleged bad governance. Speaking at a meeting of the opposition parties here, Bilawal said that due to the unity of opposition, the government was repeatedly defeated.
Earlier, the PPP chief called on the opposition leader, Shahbaz Sharif at his chamber.
“We can be successful with this unity. The allied parties had reservations with the government and that has been exposed. There is a news that a government member who did not want to attend the session and police was sent to his residence to take him to the session by force and phone calls from several quarters have been made. The government is already on its way out,” he maintained.
He thanked all the opposition members to be present in the meeting. “The unity of opposition will be a big message for the people of Pakistan and a ray of hope for them. Speaker of the National Assembly and the chairman of the Senate have become used to violating procedures of the parliament. Despite all this we must continue to struggle for the supremacy of parliament,” he added.
Bilawal said that the government used every tactics to complete its numbers in the joint session to pass the ‘rigging’ laws. “If we are united then we can defeat this government,” he remarked.
The PPP chief said that the opposition had been successful twice in the parliament. “The success of opposition is that we are united and will also be in the future. We have exposed the government and shown that their allies are not with the government,” he said.
Later, speaking on the floor of the assembly, Bilawal emphasised that the Speaker of the assembly should respect his position, his chair and his place as the custodian of the house so that the legislations are carried out according to rules and procedures.
He urged the Speaker not to become a tool of the government in passing legislation against the rules, regulations and constitution. He said that the Speaker had told the opposition that there will be consultation on the government proposed legislation but he went back on his words.
Bilawal said that the treasury members should respect the parliament. The government must not tell lies in the parliament.
“The government is trying to bring unilateral electoral reforms,” he maintained. Addressing the Speaker, he said that if the government was cheating the parliament then you should not become a part of it.
He said the government is bulldozing Electronic Voting Machines Bill but the opposition rejects this move.
“There are 34 reservations expressed by the ECP (Election Commission of Pakistan) on these EVMs. We are standing with the ECP,” he said.
He said that the electronic voting system was available in the house but had never been used and this government wanted to use EVM in thousands of polluting booths.
“The government is making these legislations controversial. Creating voting lists is the constitutional job of the ECP and no one can violate constitution by legislation. We have drafted the constitution and we will approach courts against these legislations which are violating the constitution. As far as voting rights for the overseas Pakistanis are concerned, every party wants them to have this right. We give this right to the overseas Kashmiris in Azad Kashmir elections and want the same here in Pakistan,” he said.
Bilawal asked why a vote which is cast by a person sitting in Paris and California can impact the result in Multan or Sibbi.
The government, he said, wanted to give relief to the Indian spy, Kulbhushan Jadhav. “The government provided Indian spy a relief before as well but he did not avail the opportunity thus disrespecting this parliament. Now the government wants to give relief to that Indian spy by today’s legislations,” he said.
Bilawal reminded that Prime Minister Imran Khan had promised suicide if he approached the International Monetary Fund. “Now the government has become a slave of the IMF. Pakistani people are bearing the burden of PTIMF agreement. The people are troubled by the government policies. Now the government wants to bring State bank under IMF instead of the Parliament and the Pakistani judiciary. Parliament is supreme and we will also challenge this effort of the government,” he contended.