LAHORE: PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari addressing party workers at the Bilawal House here on Saturday.—INP

LAHORE: Following in the footsteps of his father Asif Ali Zardari, PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has severely criticised the Sharif brothers and alleged that their “style of governance is all about obliging their relatives and friends”.

Addressing a gathering of charged party workers at the Bilawal House here on Saturday, he criticised the two brothers over their failure to overcome the energy crisis and ending corruption, and for a “style of governance aimed at fooling the people”.

The PPP chairman also questioned the “establishment’s act” of terming the PPP “a financer of terrorists”, apparently a reference to the Dr Asim Hussain case.

He asked why a reference filed by his father to reopen the “judicial murder of his grandfather Zulfikar Ali Bhutto” had not yet been taken up by the judiciary.

The PPP chairman questions ‘establishment’s act’ of terming the party a financier of terrorists

Earlier, Bilawal Bhutto was accompanied by his sister Bakhtawar when he entered a hall packed with about 4,000 charged PPP workers. The other speakers had to cut short their speeches because the workers demanded to hear their chairman speak after waiting for hours.

“Mian sahib! Your anti-agriculture policy has forced farmers to burn their crops and you are talking about metro buses. Who are you fooling? You are fooling no one but yourself. In the tenure of BB (Benazir Bhutto) when the farmers could not sell their potatoes my mother said the government would buy the crop from them even if she had to throw it into the sea. BB was people’s leader but in the regime of ‘Khadim-i-Ala (Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif)’ the farmers are forced to throw their crops on the road. This is the difference between BB and Khadim-i-Ala who is neither a Khadim (servant) nor Ala (great),” he said.

He asked the chief minister to suggest the name by which the latter should be known after failing to fulfil his promise of ending loadshedding within six months of coming to power.

The speech, delivered amid loud slogans against Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, was the PPP chief’s first address to a large gathering of workers since Oct 18 last year when he officially launched his political career in Karachi.

His written speech appeared to be in line with the sentiments of former president Asif Zardari who recently accused the prime minister of repeating the politics of the 1990s and said the “politics of revenge” should be stopped.

Bilawal Bhutto said: “Lahore is the heart of Pakistan. This city has been handed over to the retrogressive followers of dictatorship and friends of terrorists. Punjab being run by such people is nothing but a punishment for the followers of Bulleh Shah.

“There will be no reconciliation with the enemy of the poor and farmers. There will also be no reconciliation with those who dare not speak up on the Kashmir issue.”

He said the ‘Mian brothers’ talked about merit but did not appoint the head of any institution or department unless they found a friend or a relative of theirs for the post.

“They have taken the PIA and Steel Mills to the point where they can sell it like the MCB”, but the PPP would not let them do so, he said.

Questioning the payment of Rs480 billion to independent power producers, he said people were asking “where have you distributed this amount”.

He also questioned the role of the Federal Investigation Agency and National Accountability Bureau regarding various scandals, including the Nandipur Power Project whose cost had increased from Rs22bn to Rs81bn. He asked the rulers to “set their direction right”, alleging that they were breaking the backbone of the economy.

Expressing resentment over allegations that PPP was financing terrorists, he said: “I had challenged the terrorists when all others were pressing for talks with them. But you arose when they killed our children,” he said.

Terming the PPP a party of martyrs and apparently addressing the establishment, he said: “Do not blame me for terrorism. Do whatever you want to do, but do it with justice.”

The PPP chairman also demanded justice regarding the death of his grandfather and mother and also wondered about the outcome of the Asghar Khan case regarding funding of PPP’s opponents.

After his speech, Bilawal Bhutto jumped off the dais and mixed up with the workers. His security team rushed to protect him and he suffered several scratches amid pushing and shoving.

Published in Dawn, September 13th, 2015

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