KARACHI: Just a day after rejecting the prime minister’s proposed mechanism for a judicial inquiry into the Panama Papers allegations, PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari accused Nawaz Sharif on Saturday of “selling out national assets to leaders of his own party and their business branches”.

Expressing solidarity with the Port Qasim workers who are protesting against the proposed privatisation of port berths, he assured them that he would raise voice for them at every forum and would not let them down in testing times.

“The Sharif government is bent upon snatching livelihood of working class,” he said in a statement issued by the Bilawal House. “But the PPP won’t tolerate such moves and stand by the (port) workers in their legitimate movement”.

The party would not allow usurpation of workers’ rights, Mr Bilawal added.

On Friday shortly after the prime minister’s address to the nation in which he announced his government’s decision to formally ask the Chief Justice of Pakistan to set up a judicial commission for an investigation into Panama Papers leak, the PPP chief and leaders of other opposition parties rejected the proposed way of accountability. Mr Bhutto released multiple tweets rejecting the proposed mechanism of the inquiry, minutes after the televised address of the prime minister.

He also re-tweeted an old footage of Mr Sharif asking the then prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani to resign and added: “PM is yet 2 present himself b4 parliament & explain himself. He should follow his own advice & resign #panamapapers.”

On the other hand, the ports and shipping ministry contested reports about privatisation of berths at Port Qasim and argued that the facility had never belonged to the government since the births had been developed and owned by private sector.

However, the PPP chairman’s statement accused the ruling PML-N and the prime minister of using the privatisation policy as a tool to achieve “personal gains”.

“The PPP has the distinction of protecting workers’ interests by introducing labour reforms,” he said. On the contrary, he alleged, the Sharif government seemed to be “selling profit-making units with one hand and buying with the other, perhaps for opening up more offshore companies.”

Mr Bilawal assured the Port Qasim workers of his party’s support and said the PPP would not leave them alone in their just struggle.

Published in Dawn, April 24th, 2016