KARACHI: PPP Chairperson Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari has asked the establishment to “leave political battles to the politicians or risk being drawn into controversies”.
In a series of tweets, Bilawal spoke of the future action plan of the Opposition parties’ anti-government coalition under the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) and took jibes at the incumbent regime.
“Only a government chosen by the people can deliver for the people,” he wrote on Twitter.
Today — January 31, 2021 — marked the passing of a deadline set by the PDM for Prime Minister Imran Khan to step down from his premiership but with no such action from the PTI chief, Bilawal wrote of the future strategy of the Opposition’s coalition.
The Opposition parties “had given this illegitimate regime the opportunity to step aside respectfully & allow for a transition to democracy with free, fair & transparent elections”, he said, but it would now “force the removal of puppets”.
The PPP boss reiterated that the people of Pakistan were facing “historic, poverty, unemployment & inflation because this govt was forced on them”.
Since the PPP “believes in relying only on democratic tactics”, there would now be “sustained joint efforts inside and outside parliament”, he underscored, hoping for them to “ultimately succeed”.
“Long march and no confidence will hopefully be discussed in our PDM meeting. [The PTI government’s] desperation is clear. [It’s] trying to change rules to rig Senate elections because they can see their defeat.
“InshaAllah [God-willing, the] Senate elections will show the government is on shaky ground,” he added.
Late last December, Bilawal had given an ultimatum to the PTI regime, saying if the premier did not resign by January 31, the party loyalists, would march down to the capital and “drag him off his seat”.
The 11-party Opposition alliance had at the time demanded PM Imran Khan “to step down” or face the movement’s long march to Islamabad with the aim to “dethrone him”.
‘Heard someone was going to resign today’
Earlier today, Planning and Development Minister Asad Umar had taken numerous jibes at the PDM on Twitter.
“Heard someone was going to resign today,” Umar tweeted, using a ‘thinking face’ emoji.
“Let’s set aside what you had demanded and what you were never going to get.
“Where did those [resignations] that were supposed to be thrown in the faces of Murtaza Abbasi and others go? Did you perhaps hit your own face with them?”
Prior to that, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi also took an aim at the PDM, saying the appropriate time for the Opposition’s coalition to submit resignations from the Parliament is 2023.
The anti-government alliance failed to force PM Imran Khan to resign from his office, Qureshi told the media. “Now they have started saying that they will resign from assemblies at an appropriate time,” he said, while sarcastically commenting that “it seems that the appropriate time is the year 2023”.
