Karachi - Pakistan People’s Party chief Bilawal Bhutto Zardari yesterday said that the legacy of Prime Minister Imran Khan’s government would be “unfettered and unabashed corruption and incompetence.”  

The unprecedented massive corruption, he said, was the root cause of Pakistan’s decimated economy. The PPP chief said that any nation plagued with corrupt rule would never be able to stabilise the economy. 

“This a government of the elite, by the elite, and for the elite. They are busy in minting money, while the masses have been crushed under the burden of skyrocketing prices of essential commodities,” he said in a statement.

He said that PM Imran Khan, was solely responsible for the economic disaster in the country, and despite all his efforts to scapegoat his ministers and advisors, he would not be allowed to escape accountability for his actions. Bilawal demanded of the PM to explain where the billions of rupees the government had accumulated from levy and taxes on gas and electricity had gone.  

“Have the government and its myriad  ministers pilfered from the national exchequer? As custodian of the national exchequer, the PM is responsible for the public’s wealth. The buck stops with the PM, and he will have to answer for every paisa,” he added. He said the federal government first increased taxes to generate more revenue and then this revenue was being siphoned off by the crony capitalists and ministers from public welfare projects. 

“The federal government and the Prime Minister have lost all credibility in the eyes of the people. International institutions that monitor corruption have fully exposed the so-called transparency and honesty of Imran Khan and his government,” he said. 

The PPP leader said Imran Khan’s own party members had questioned his capability to govern fairly and honestly.  “A liar who has clung to the corridors of power through back room deals and false promises can never be trusted, nor he can be sincere to the people of the country. Imran Khans mandate doesn’t come from the people, so he doesn’t serve them. Only true representative of the will of people would be able to rescue Pakistan from the quagmire this government has sunk us in,” Bilawal said. 

Meanwhile yesterday, PPP Secretary General Nayyar Bukhari expressed serious concerns over the proposed use of Electronic Voting Machine in the elections. He said the government’s measures related to electronic voting machine were designed to steal the next election. 

Bukhari said the government was trying to win the next elections in an engineered manner through electronic voting machine.  He said many developed countries had abolished the use of electronic voting machines and adopted the method of direct voting.

Nayyar Bukhari said that the use of EVMs for overseas Pakistanis was tried which failed miserably but the rulers were still insisting on electronic voting to fulfill their personal interest agenda. 

He said that due to load-shedding and unavailability of scientific facilities, it was not possible to use EVM in some parts of the country.

He questioned how illiterate people will use the machine in a country with a low literacy rate. “The PPP expresses serious concerns regarding the EVM,” he maintained.