ISLAMABAD - Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has said there is only one umpire in Pakistan and that is the people.
Addressing the media here on Friday, he said in a democracy and in Pakistan it is the will of the people which is followed not that of any third umpire.
Commenting on the possibility of presidential system and the rollback of the 18th Amendment, the PPP chairman reiterated that any such move would be resisted by his party. “You cannot bring a presidential system through democratic means. PPP and other democratic forces of this country will reject this,” he added.
Bilawal said that presidential form of government is running successfully in USA only but some plotters and non-elected elements want to bring one unit and presidential system by abolishing 18th Amendment.
Bilawal said only Islamic parliamentary democratic system was viable for Pakistan as presidential system was only successful in the United States of America. He rejected the presidential system and said all the political forces would stand against such system.
Bilawal said his party would extend all out support to the government for introducing new system but would not allow anyone to derail the democracy.
The PPP chairman stated his party’s stance on the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), calling it a black law and an institution made by former president General (retd) Pervez Musharraf for political engineering and vengeance.
“PPP thinks a new system is needed and there should be across the board accountability for all. There needs to be one system for everyone.”
Bilawal, however, did say that right now it would be impossible to bring an entirely new system. “We will try to bring this [NAB] under the rule of law as much as we can. If the government is ready for this, then we are ready to talk to them,” he elaborated.
The PPP chairman said the government till now has not shown any seriousness and had failed to even pass a bill. “They [government] have shown no interest in the Parliament or the economy,” he added.
He stressed the importance of the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project when asked about Prime Minister Imran Khan’s visit to Beijing to attend the One Belt One Road Forum.
“We think there should be no compromise on CEPC and we will not let this government compromise. The people of Pakistan know that this is an important project for the future of the country.”
“The government took controversial step by distributing funds to MNAs and MPAs from the amount allocated for CPEC project. It is hoped that government would take forward CPEC as all the previous governments did and no compromise would be made on it and the project should be completed at any cost,” he added.
He strongly criticised the present government by saying that PTI did nothing except taking “U-turns”.
He said that the speech of Akhtar Mengal was blacked out but PPP accepted his point of view. “The difficulties of Balochistan are in fact the problems of Pakistan. Referendum would be an illegal step.”
FIRDOUS ASKS BILAWAL TO STAND UP AGAINST CORRUPTION
Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Information and Broadcasting Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan Friday said that Pakistan People’s Party Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari instead of defending corruption should stand up against the menace and prove his love for the country.
In a tweet, she said that Bilawal talked about presidential system, 18th Amendment, human rights, and expressed worry for the poor and farmers when the corruption of his family was exposed.
She said that Pakistan was a sacred trust of Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah and those who breached that trust deserved no mercy. She said those elements which violated that trust and built their castles by plundering national wealth, made the poor segments of the society poorer.