LAHORE: Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on Wednesday criticised the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and Mutahidda Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) for their plans to remove the National Assembly’s opposition leader.
He said such moves will pose a danger to the stability of the parliament and is not a good omen for the supremacy of the lower house of parliament.
The PPP chairman commended Opposition Leader Khursheed Shah for his role in holding the supremacy of parliament, saying that Shah has played an important role in defending the parliament from attacks.
Bilawal alleged that though the PTI and MQM-P are part of parliament, they have been damaging the house by their actions. “PTI and MQM are being run via remote control,” said Bilawal.
Referring to the powers vested in the opposition leader in regards to the caretaker government and appointment of the NAB chairman, Bilawal said no one can take these powers away from the leader of the opposition.
On Tuesday, a delegation of the PTI, including Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Asad Umar, Firdous Shamim among others, met the leaders of the MQM-P.
The leaders of the two parties mulled over the possibility of replacing the PPP stalwart Khursheed Shah as the leader of the opposition, before the caretaker government steps in ahead of 2018 elections.
Bilawal’s comments are not that of a person who is a party chairman. In a Democracy, people are free to discuss as are Parliamentarians. His focus should be on why the opposition parties are wanting to replace the opposition leader and not attack the opposition for exercising their Parliamentarian rights?
If the opposition leader, Khurshid Shah, was performing his role in the best interest of the country as a whole this situation would not have arisen. This situation has come about as a result of Khurshid Shah acting in the best interest of both PPP and PMLN, whereby individuals from these two parties stand to benefit from the collusion of Opposition leader with that of the PMLN Government.
Let us analyse what has gone before, as a result of decisions arrived at between the PPP and PMLN in the past:
– The last caretaker government appointed led to the accusation of widespread election fraud by all the parties that participated in the last General Election;
– The appointment of the NAB (National Accountability Bureau) Chairman has led to acquittal or no action being taken against individuals from the two parties concerned, thereby giving rise to accusation of collusion.
When the parties or individuals act in their best interest, it neither good for the country nor Democracy.
Bilawal should be examining the reasons why the opposition parties are not happy with the role of Khurshid Shah rather than accusing opposition parties of undermining democracy in Pakistan. He should be advised to cleanup his own party of corruption which will take away the need to protect individuals from prosecution. He should start this from his own father, who is accused of massive fraud by so many. It will be good for his party to retire his own father from politics, so he can begin a fresh start. If he doesn’t, he can expect similar results to the recent By-Election in NA120, where his party’s candidate received less than 1500 votes.
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