Federal Minister for Maritime Affairs Syed Ali Haider Zaidi on Friday asked PPP Co-Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari to stop giving irresponsible statements or to provide evidence of any duress being exerted on parliamentarians to vote specific law on government desire.
In his reaction to Bilawal’s remarks during his press conference on Thursday, he said that Bilawal Zardari alleged free atmosphere had not been provided to the legislators, said a press release.
“If Bilawal Zardari believes the parliament is a ‘rubber stamp’ then the PPP should resign from the assemblies including Sindh, as they had been elected in the same elections won by PTI”, the minister said.
“Also, if 20 opposition parliamentarians are absent at the voting time, the fault lies with the leadership of PPP and PMLN.” adding that Bilawal Zardari and Shahbaz Sharif should show some courage as Prime Minister Imran Khan did after the Senate elections in 2018 by firing some PTI MPAs from KPK who voted against party policy in Senate elections”,”he said.
Federal Minister Ali Zaidi said that criticizing National Assembly Speaker by Bilawal Zardari is baseless, as Asad Qaiser is one of the most tolerant speakers in the history of the National Assembly.
“Asad Qaiser sometimes gives more time to the opposition benches as compared to treasury benches and even ignores the abuses hurled towards some of us by the opposition benches while we speak.” he said, adding that his predecessor Ayaz Sadiq was the most partisan Speaker in NA history.
The minister said another hypocrisy by PPP co-chair was his attempt to portray himself as a champion of media freedom. “He conveniently forgets and ignores the murder of Aziz Memon in Sindh but gives credit to Matiullah Jan and even visits him.” Why not the family of Aziz Memon?
“Bilawal Zardari considers the 18th Amendment of the Constitution to be untouchable and states that it can’t be discussed or changed, as if it was written in stone but talks about changing the 19th Amendment relating to the process of judges’ appointment. If he wants changes in one clause of the constitution, then everything should be on the table for discussion/negotiations.” he added.
He said also “Bilawal Zardari loves referring to the Charter of Democracy as some sacred document that should be fully implemented but the people of Pakistan knew that the Misaq-e-Jamhuriat is Mazaq-e-Jamhuriat.”
Maritime Affairs Minister asked why is PPP opposing the Opposition Leader of Sindh to become the Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee in the Sindh Assembly. “Seeing PPP’s governance in Sindh for the last 12+ years, why should anyone even vote for PPP next time? So please don’t make conspiracy theories about being confined to only one province.”
