Sanjrani should resign after Bizenjo nomination, says Bilawal

–PPP chief says democracy under siege; calls for joint action to safeguard people’s rights

Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari on Thursday said that Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani should resign on moral grounds after the opposition’s nomination of Hasil Bizenjo for the top slot of the upper house.

Addressing a press conference in Sukkur, the PPP chief said that democratic and human rights would not be safe in the country until economic rights of the people are protected.

He said that democracy was under siege in Pakistan and the constitutional, economic and democratic rights of the citizens were being usurped. “There is an attack on democracy from every direction,” he said.

He called for a joint struggle to safeguard people’s rights in the country. “People are suffering because of the government’s policies which have led to widespread taxes, rising inflation and rapidly growing unemployment,” he concluded.

On Wednesday, Bilawal announced that his party will stage a sit-in on July 12 in Sukkur against the “poor” policies of the federal government and the subsequent rise in inflation.

Addressing a workers’ convention in Sukkur, the PPP chief said that the sit-in will follow a rally which will be taken out the next day along the border of Sindh and Punjab.

Talking about the federal government’s policies, Bilawal said that it was responsible for Sindh’s dwindling finances, water woes and the rising trend of censorship. He said that a government minister had admitted on the floor of the House that Sindh’s share of water was being stolen. He added that if the government is aware of water theft, why it is not doing anything.

He said that it was strange that interviews of controversial persons were allowed to be aired on the television while the interview of an elected representative was censored and taken off air.

Bilawal said that the armed forces of the country had been made controversial by thrusting them inside the polling stations. He appreciated the decision of withdrawing the army from polling stations in the erstwhile Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) where polls are to be held for representation in the National Assembly (NA) following the merger.

He hoped that army personnel would be kept out of the polling stations during the Ghotki by-polls as well.

Talking about the role of his party in the current political scenario, he said that the government believes that PPP has “died” but they do not know that the “party has just started”.

He said that the political opponents of the party believe that they can scare them by putting them behind bars but they do not know that “we are dedicated to protecting the Constitution even if the government puts my entire family and all of our party workers behind bars”.