Our Correspondent
Larkana
The Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM), an 11 party Opposition alliance, on Sunday once again asked Prime Minister Imran Khan “to step down” or face the movement’s long march to Islamabad with the aim to “dethrone him.”
Various political leaders of the Pakistan Democratic Movement were addressing the people gathered at Garhi Khuda Bakhsh in Larkana to commemorate the 13th death anniversary of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto.
PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said that if by December 31, the premier does not resign, the jiyalas (party loyalists) will march down to the capital and “shove him off off his seat”.
‘You are mistaken if you think we will back off’, Bilawal said and added the government and any naysayers who think the Opposition will back off, need only look to the Bhutto mausoleum in Garhi Khuda Bakhsh.
He recounted the struggles of his grandfather and his uncles, all who “sacrificed their lives” but “did not sway from their democratic beliefs”. “Look at Benazir Bhutto’s life, spent in the service of the people,” he said.
“Benazir is alive today in the hearts of everyone, and those who clashed with her, their names are forgotten.
“Ziaul Haq’s grave lies unattended, and Gen Pervez Musharraf is living a life of disgrace abroad,” Bilawal said. PPP Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari in his virtual address said running a country is “not the same as managing a cricket team”. This government will collapse on its own, said Zardari. He said today was a day of ‘red salute’, adding that while Benazir had passed away on this day she had left the message for her party to keep fighting for the country. He said the PTI government was unable to run the country and would remain so. “These aren’t the people who run a country, they are the ones who run a cricket team, “ he added.
Zardari said in his tenure, he had joined his political rivals in order to “complete the Constitution” but now the country’s exports had fallen and the dollar had seen a steep rise. “I want to ask you not to worry so much; they have little time left. They will fall due to their own weight,” the PPP leader told the public.
He said while he was not afraid of jails, the National Accountability Bureau was running a “black market” and issuing warrants for businessmen. “Could anyone have thought that [former military ruler Gen Pervez] Musharraf would be yearning to come to Pakistan but he cannot?” Zardari said.
Zardari said that the National Accountability Bureau has started to “blackmail” people. “I said in the assembly on the first day — run the country or run NAB,” he said. “There was not a single political prisoner in the PPP government,” he said.
He promised to “meet everyone soon” when he feels better. “This government will not last any longer. A government of your choosing will come,” he said.
The former president said that he had “removed Musharraf from parliament”. “What is Imran Khan, in comparison?” “We can remove Imran Khan Niazi. We just need to change our approach,” he told the crowds. “We must fill up the jails and we are ready to do that,” Zardari said.
PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz began her address in Sindhi much to the audience’s surprise. She thanked her hosts for their warmth and hospitality since her arrival in the city.
Maryam said it saddens her that Benazir Bhutto, the first lady prime minister of the Muslim world, “had to lay down her life” during her struggle and for her beliefs. She said it is a pain that she too carries.
Maryam recalled how, on that dark day, Nawaz Sharif was among the first to be notified and how he had embraced PPP leaders and shared their grief that day. She said she knows what it is to lose a mother. “The grief is still fresh from two and a half years ago”.
“I still got to spend time with my mother but Bilawal lost his mother when he was still so young.”While addressing the rally, Maryam once again hit out at the government over inflation and allegedly hiding behind the establishment, telling Prime Minister Imran Khan he was not fighting the PDM but the entire population of Pakistan.
“Your war is not with PDM but with the 220 million people of Pakistan whom you have struck like lightning,” she said while addressing Imran, adding that the people had “won” this war.
Maryam said when PPP chairperson Bilawal Bhutto was unable to attend the PDM rally in Mardan, Imran was “jumping around with elation” believing there had been a rift within the opposition. She alleged he will say the same about today’s rally which JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman is not attending.
