Resign by Jan 31st or face long march, PDM warns PM

| Zardari claims PTI govt has little time 

left, alleges NAB running a ‘black market’

| Bilawal says giving more time to govt 

will be disastrous | Maryam says 

corrupt are pardoned while political leaders are sent to jails

KARACHI/LARKANA   –  Many leaders of the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM), an 11-party alliance of the Opposition parties formed this year to send the government packing, on Sunday gathered in Larkana to join the 13th death anniversary of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto.

All the top PDM leaders while addressing a public gathering lashed out at the government’s policies and demanded Prime Minister Imran Khan to resign by January 31st or prepared for the long-march towards Islamabad. Earlier, the PDM leaders had announced that they would submit resignations from the assemblies as they would reach the federal capital to get rid of the present government.  

Former president and PPP co-chairperson Asif Ali Zardari addressed the rally virtually. He challenged the government to hold elections and see who the people stand behind. 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?” he asked. “We can remove Imran Khan Niazi. We just need to change our approach,” he said. “We must fill up the jails and we are ready to do that,” Zardari said.

He said that December 27 is a day of “red salute” because Benazir had passed away on this day. She had left the message for her party to keep fighting for the country, Zardari said.

He said the PTI-led government had failed to run the country and would remain so. Zardari criticised PM Imran Khan saying that these are not the people who run a country but in fact they are the ones who run a cricket team. The former president said that 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.

He said in the PPP tenure, prices of commodities were low. “We ran the country carefully, like raising a child,” he added. Zardari said that when the rule ended and the PML-N came into power “they were welcomed”.  He said he wishes to see all political parties on the same page.

“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 said. He said while he was not afraid of jails, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) was running a “black market” and issuing warrants for businessmen. “I said in the assembly on the first day, run the country or run NAB,” Zardari said. The PPP did not have a single political prisoner during its government, he claimed.

In his address to the mammoth public meeting, PPP chief Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said the opposition had united on PDM’s platform to rescue the country from the government’s alleged inefficiencies and will together make efforts to end “the business of selected and selection”.

He said the PPP leadership, from Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto to Benazir, had sacrificed their lives but refused to compromise on their principles.  “Today, we have to vow to fulfill Benazir Bhutto’s promise and save Pakistan,” he said, adding that the country envisioned by the PPP leaders was one where the Constitution ruled and everyone had equal rights.

He said due to the government’s “anti-people” policies, millions of people were forced to live below the poverty line and people couldn’t afford two meals a day, while youngsters were desperate to find jobs.

“The rulers neither see your poverty nor your unemployment nor the storm of inflation,” the PPP leader said. “This puppet cannot provide bread and employment to people and says ‘I won’t leave anyone.’

“But now the people fed up of unemployment, poverty and inflation will not leave this puppet, oppressor and selected.”

Bilawal said he could not accept the country in its current state as a democracy “where there is no freedom of speech, writing, doing rallies and protesting peacefully”.

“Enough has happened. If this government is given more time they will wreck the country and we won’t let it happen. These selected rulers will also be in the wastebasket of history like Musharraf and Gen Zia.”

He said the PTI government had taken historic loans from international donors but the funds didn’t cause any benefit to the common man.

“Now this game will end. The business of selected and selection will end,” he said, adding that the provinces were not being given their due share under the National Finance Commission Award.

Addressing the rally, PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz once again hit out at the government over inflation and allegedly hiding behind the establishment, telling Prime Minister Imran 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 the premier, adding that the people had “won” this war.

Maryam thanked the people of Sindh for their hospitality and Bilawal and his family members for welcoming her early in the morning at their residence in Naudero. 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 female 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, along with the Bhutto family. She said she knows what it is to lose a mother. “The grief is still fresh from two and a half years ago”.

Maryam also said that the corrupt are pardoned while political leaders are thrown into jail, shot down and made to face the courts. She also paid tribute to the late Justice Waqar Ahmed Seth for convicting Gen. Pervez Musharraf, “who is the killer of Benazir and of the Constitution”.

“Pakistan’s doors will InshaAllah always remain closed to Musharraf. We shall always remember his (Seth’s) courage to uphold the Constitution. We will keep his memory alive,” Maryam said.

Jamiat Ulema-i-Pakistan (JUP) leader Awais Noorani, Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP) chief Mehmood Khan Achakzai and Awami National Party leader Ameer Haider Khan Hoti also addressed the crowd and paid tribute to Benazir’s political struggles.