CHINIOT: Pakistan Peop­les Party chief Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari lashed out at former prime minister Nawaz Sharif for making references to the late PPP leaders Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and Benazir Bhutto in his speeches during the Islamabad-Lahore rally, and claimed that thousands of people had suffered inconvenience because of the procession.

Speaking at a public gathering in Chiniot on Saturday, Mr Bhutto-Zardari said that Mr Sharif had illegally accumulated wealth and left the country poorer than before. The PPP would not lend the Sharifs a supportive shoulder. They would have to face punishment for their financial crimes from the courts.

Several PPP leaders, including Syed Khurshid Shah, Qamar Zaman Kaira, Syed Yousuf Raza Gillani and Aitzaz Ahsan, lauded the Supreme Court’s decision to disqualify Mr Sharif and accused the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz as well as Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf’s Imran Khan of corruption.

The country’s rulers were making money through kickbacks from bogus projects because of which the poor were getting poorer while the national debt had skyrocketed, said Mr Bhutto-Zardari.

He criticised Mr Khan for calling him and Mr Sharif “two sides of the same coin”. Mr Khan was known to level allegations and hurl abuse at his opponents, he said, adding that the PTI was involved in corruption in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

“If this is what new Pakistan would be like, the people are better off without it,” he said, adding that the PPP would provide employment and take other steps to reduce poverty after coming into power in the next elections.

If the PPP came to power in the next general elections, its priorities would be to provide employment and reduce poverty, he said.

Mr Bhutto-Zardari also called for strict implementation of the National Action Plan in order to build Pakistan in accordance with the dreams of Allama Iqbal and the Quaid-i-Azam.

Published in Dawn, August 13th, 2017