–PPP co-chairman vows to fight political opponents ‘in court and everywhere else’, says will take back govt from PTI
–Bilawal says federation’s foundations weakening, warns ‘a single spark can turn everything into a heap of ash’
–Accuses ‘puppet’ PM of ‘wanting to turn country into one unit and establish a one-party unit’
LARKANA: Former president and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Co-Chairman Asif Ali Zardari on Thursday said that his party will take the government back from the “ladla” (blue-eyed person) through a democratic process, adding that the party’s leadership will not get deterred by the “favoured one’s” tactics.
He was addressing PPP workers on slain PPP leader Benazir Bhutto’s 11th death anniversary in her hometown Garhi Khuda Bakhsh in Larkana district of Sindh.
Zardari also vowed to fight his political opponents “in court and everywhere else”, saying “they have started to sound like a broken record. They don’t know how to do anything except spewing rubbish on television.”
He made the statement hours after the government announced that his name could be placed on the Exit Control List (ECL) in connection with the fake bank accounts case.
Shortly after Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry announced that the government has decided to place the names of all 172 suspects named in the joint investigation team’s report in the fake bank accounts case on the no-fly list, Zardari lashed out at the government, saying: “Today, the thugs of the ladla have challenged us. We are not afraid of their tactics.
“As far as Bilawal [Bhutto] is concerned, he is the son of Benazir Bhutto and I: how can you scare him?” he asked.
Zardari criticised the PTI government and claimed that they pale in comparison to the performance of the PPP government.
“They did nothing in their 100 days,” he said, reminding the PPP workers that he had ousted former dictator General (r) Pervez Musharraf, “launched the Benazir [Income Support Programme] card” in his first 100 days.
“The PTI will be unable to run the country despite foreign support by friendly countries,” he said.
After paying homage to his late mother, PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari echoed his father’s sentiments as he too promised to “fight the lies and controversies” against his family.
Bilawal wondered if Prime Minister Imran Khan is aware “how weak the federation’s foundations are right now”, warning that “a single spark can turn everything into a heap of ash”.
“The country’s rein has been handed to an inexperienced PM today,” he said. “He has drowned the public in a sea of inflation within his first 100 days. He has brought the economy to a point from where there is no return.”
Bilawal accused “the puppet” prime minister of “wanting to turn the country into one unit and establish a one-party unit.”
The PPP leader questioned why “opposition is the sole target” of the ongoing accountability drive in the country. “Why are federal ministers and the prime minister and his family above the law?”
Bilawal labelled the JIT’s report as “lies and sham”, and claimed that it would not hold in the court where it “would be thrown in the trash can”.
He launched a staunch defence of his father, saying to the party workers that the PPP co-chairperson had been acquitted in all past cases against him.