SUKKUR: Pakistan Peoples Party chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari may declare that the time to talk to Imran Khan is over but one of his party’s senior leaders, Syed Khursheed Ahmed Shah, believes it is better “a leader should talk to a leader”.

He was speaking to media persons outside accountability court on Monday. The court, seized with a reference filed by National Accountability Bureau against him and 17 other co-accused on charges of accumulating assents beyond known sources of income, adjourned hearing of the case to Dec 21.

Khursheed Shah said that it was not an opportune time to invite Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) leaders to dialogue when the 11-party alliance was preparing to hold its biggest show so far.

“There is still time if Imran Khan himself contacts Maulana Fazlur Rehman, Maryam Nawaz, Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari and Asif Ali Zardari and invites them to talks. It is better that a leader should talk to a leader. Our leaders will not speak to second-tier leadership,” he said.

‘It is better that a leader should talk to a leader’

He criticised the prime minister’s picture with dogs released to media the day the PDM was holding its big public meeting in Lahore and said that it was not wrong to feed one’s dogs but the prime minister used the photograph to show that he was not afraid of the movement going on against him.

He claimed that PDM’s public meeting in Lahore was the second most successful gathering after the historic power show by Benazir Bhutto. Though people continued to come and go out of the venue the government spokespersons sitting in TV shows continued to comment on the decreasing number of participants in the public meeting, he said, adding they should have demonstrated a sense of maturity.

He said the decision over resignations was to be taken by the party leadership and made light of arrival of Maryam Nawaz in Garhi Khuda Bakhsh on Dec 27. Her father Mian Nawaz Sharif had also come to Garhi from Rawalpindi at the time of Benazir Bhutto’s assassination, he said.

He said that Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf leaders should remember their recent past when they announced in public meetings burning of bills of electricity and gas and also asked people to go for civil disobedience and refuse to pay taxes to “corrupt” government but the PDM had not so far gone that far.

He said that Imran Khan’s failure to fulfil the promises he had made with people might invite action under Article 62 and 63 of the Constitution. Today, the party leaders were proudly announcing that sugar price had come down to Rs82 per kilo though there was nothing to be proud of in it because when they had come into power the price of sugar was Rs50 per kg. It might have been an achievement if they had brought the price further down to Rs50, he said.

Khursheed Shah said that he considered politics as a form of worship and would not say anything about the people who were making his case “linger on”.

Published in Dawn, December 15th, 2020