Make promises on Afghanistan that you can keep, Bilawal tells PM

Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari on Wednesday said the prime minister shouldn’t make promises regarding Afghanistan which it would find hard to keep later on.

The PPP chief was alluding to PM Imran Khan’s statement during his visit to the United States wherein he had said that Pakistan would do everything it can for sustainable peace in the neighbouring country.

“The government must not make promises it will be unable to deliver on to the US and NATO,” said Bilawal in a press conference in Karachi.

He said the Imran Khan-led government had limited-term goals and it wanted to please the US, that’s why it agreed to all of Washington’s conditions.

The PPP chief said if Pakistan failed to fulfil its promises on Afghanistan then the US will make the country its scapegoat. He said in spite of all this, the PPP supports the government wanting to engage with different countries.

He, however, criticised the prime minister for choosing to target the opposition during his address in the US instead of speaking about other pressing issues.

Bilawal said that instead of criticising Pakistan’s real enemies, PM Imran chose to censure the opposition at his Washington ‘jalsa’.

The PPP chairman said that Pakistan’s interests could have been furthered if the prime minister went on these trips as the entire nation’s representative.

The PPP chairman also called upon judiciary to take notice of the deteriorating health of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, saying the PPP demands that the government provide all citizens with their basic rights.

‘BLACK DAY’

The PPP chairman also announced that the opposition would stage nationwide protests on Thursday to mark “black day when the mandate of the people was stolen”.

He also urged people to take to streets across the country to mark the first anniversary of the general elections that brought the PTI to power. The chairman said the entire nation knew that this government was ‘selected’ and the public had clearly rejected it.