Bilawal Bhutto demands investigation into alleged visit of PM’s friend to Israel
Islamabad: Chairman Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Bilawal Bhutto Zardari Monday said that the media should investigate why an airplane in November went to Israel from Pakistan and stayed there for ten hours.
Responding to a questions at a media interaction here about Prime Minister Imran Khan’s close friend allegedly visiting Israel, Bilawal Bhutto said: “We are demanding that if this airplane took off from another country, it should also be investigated. Chairman Bilawal said the news outlets there reported that Imran Khan’s close friend and special assistant was the one aboard the airplane, for whom Imran Khan had arranged for an NRO during the elections.”
This information should come before the nation now. “We have concerns regarding what is done in the darkness of the night. If an airplane did not pick up Zulfi Bukhari then who did it pick up? We have a very strong relation with Palestine and the decision about Palestine will be taken by Palestinian,” he said.
When asked about the situation in the Sindh assembly, Chairman Bilawal said that just like there are non-serious people in Islamabad, they are also there in the Sindh assembly, who still think that they are on containers. The opposition members in the Sindh assembly should be asked why they not moved a single cut motion during the budget debate. You must have seen the seriousness of the PPP members in the National assembly who presented cut motions. We hope that the speaker Sindh assembly maintains the dignity there. Such actions should have not been done in the assembly where the Pakistan resolution was passed. I hope that the speaker will take serious action against everyone who is involved in such matters.
Regarding lending airbases to United States, he said that we do not take Imran Khan’s statements seriously because he has taken a U-turn on every stance since coming into politics. We will be briefed about the issue in a meeting of national security committee tomorrow.
About the Gujjar nullah issue, he said that we respect the decisions of the Supreme Court in regards to the population living there. This is a humanitarian disaster because it affects 96000 people, you are forcibly displacing these people during a pandemic without resettling them or providing them with shelter, only with a negligible amount as compensation. The United Nations in turn has alarmed us that this is a grave breach of human rights. We also want the Gujjar nullah to be clean and there are other nullahs that should be paid attention as well. No one lives on a nullah happily, these people are there out of sheer need. If we want the nullah to be cleared, this is surely possible but it needs to follow a proper procedure and the right timeframe, during which we can ensure that the people can be provided with houses. Unfortunately, this is not happening, after the UN report had come, I had called upon the Sindh government and the Sindh cabinet to take notice of the United Nations’ human rights appeal for the people living in Gujjar nullah Karachi. The cabinet and parliament should also discuss this and we should approach the court for it to review its decision. We respect the court and do not wish to contempt it, but we are appealing to it to not forcibly displace Karachi’s poor population. The people being displaced are those with electricity and gas connections, they shouldn’t have to provide a justification for their rights and houses to not be taken away.
Responding to a question about the Kashmir election campaign, Chairman Bilawal said that he is grateful to the population of Gilgit Baltistan who despite the obvious rigging and intervention, voted for and supported PPP. Everyone saw how that seat was snatched from us, but despite that PPP is a democratic party and does not leave space for anyone to carry on with their anti-democratic practices which we know they do. However, PPP will not leave any space for this to take place freely, we know that the state is using its resources but PPP will still run its campaign democratically and if the ones in government are trying to win with their power, influence, and money, we have Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s Peoples Party and we know that the people of Kashmir will support us.
In a Twitter message, Chairman Bilawal said that he had demanded on the floor of the house that the Parliament be briefed on the Afghanistan situation by the relevant departments and institutions. We welcome Speaker’s decision and will participate in NSC committee meeting on the topic.
