Observer Report
Lahore
Pakistan People’s Party Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on Wednesday made it clear that his party will not become part of any undemocratic conspiracy to oust the government.
While talking to the PPP Central Punjab leadership in a meeting held at the Bilawal House, he announced campaign of rallies and protests against inflation. PPP does not accept ‘selected Prime Minister’, he added.
Bilawal said that masses are continuously facing problems due to inflation and unemployment as IMF’s deal did not take into account the common man’s problems. He also said that government’s tax targets are breaking backbone of masses and PPP also went to IMF but did not enforce just a cruel deal.
Bilawal also condemned the government’s economic policies and accused the Centre of committing “financial murder of the public”. Hesaid that his party had “strictly, in the strongest possible terms, condemned” the alleged murder of journalist Aziz Memon, whose body was found from an irrigation channel in Naushero Feroze.
At the same time, the PPP lawmaker advised journalists to “work with your allies” and cautioned against “unwillingly becoming part of a conspiracy that is against democratic forces”.
Bilawal was posed with a question regarding the death of a journalist in Sindh, where the PPP is in power. The reporter also pointed out that the journalist had posted a video, where he had alleged that he was receiving threats for his coverage of a news story.
In response, Bilawal said that the video had been posted last year when the PPP had held its ‘train march’ and added: “Our record is before you. Whenever you (journalists) are named in fake terrorism cases, whenever there are deadly attacks on your community, PPP always stands by you. Even if we suffer losses because of it, we tolerate that because we believe that constructive criticism leads to improvement.”
Bilawal said that a day before Memon’s death, a PPP MPA was brutally murdered in the same area. “We want justice to prevail. We want a police system that is not involved in politics,” he insisted. He did not, however, shine a light on the findings of the ongoing investigation into Memon’s death.
“But I want to make a request before you all: this story does not end with Aziz Memon. This story is not limited to one Aziz Memon. You should ask who filed terrorism cases against Sindh’s journalists. You should also ask if this is only happening in Sindh. In accordance with a conspiracy, tactics like this are being used against our journalists who do real reporting, whether in Pakistan or abroad.”
