PPP Chairman and Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari said on Thursday that his party does not celebrate the arrest of any politician or distribute sweets. What has happened in the last couple of days is a dark moment in history. Addressing a press conference here at Bilawal House, the PPP chief said his party was always against the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), and ideologically believed it should be shut down. “But the PTI kept defending the NAB for as long as PPP opposed it,” he stressed. From 2008-13, Bilawal said, it was part of the Charter of Democracy to shut down the NAB, but Imran Khan started a ‘save-NAB’ campaign.

“When Nawaz Sharif came to power, we asked them again as opposition and adopted the stance that the NAB law should be amended and reformed, but to no avail,” he lamented. Today, he said, all the allied parties in the government have the same stance that NAB should be shut down. “And when we reformed the NAB law and made amendments, Imran Khan was the first beneficiary,” he commented. The foreign minister remarked that the allegations against Imran Khan are severe.

“When the UK’s National Crime Agency wanted to return Pakistan’s 190 million pounds, the then prime minister Imran Khan abused his office, deceived the cabinet and in a sealed envelope, got it approved from the cabinet to store the amount elsewhere,” Bilawal claimed. He then went on to challenge the then cabinet members to reject this claim that they did not approve any such thing. “The cabinet gave it to Malik Riaz to repay his fine to the Supreme Court. The allegations are severe,” he insisted. Imran Khan was arrested in accordance with the law and the Constitution in corruption cases. He claimed that all the violence perpetrated after the arrest was pre-planned and they respond with guns, stones and weapons.

“There are very few such examples in history. First, the TTP attacked the GHQ and then PTI. After the BLA vandalized Jinnah House in Balochistan, the PTI ransacked Jinnah House in Lahore,” he asserted. Throughout Pakistan’s history, no political party has responded to a 14-day remand with terrorism, Bilawal maintained. He added that when the PPP founder was hanged the party didn’t attack any property or when Benazir Bhutto was assassinated, the PPP responded politically and democratically.

“I have said it before that the PTI are political terrorists. For their role in the last few days, they have to be answerable. Whoever is involved in these crimes will have to be accountable,” he stressed. Bilawal asserted that now that the PTI has crossed a ‘red line’, it is the responsibility of state and the institution to implement the law and Constitution so next time no political part, group or organisation breaks the law.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan-INP