Imran gave NRO to Sharif by sending him abroad: Bilawal
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has claimed that Prime Minister Imran Khan himself gave an NRO (amnesty) to deposed prime minister Nawaz Sharif by sending him abroad.
“The government’s narrative is contradictory as Imran himself had given NRO to send Sharif abroad for treatment and now the premier must not tell a lie to the nation on the issue. If Sharif was a criminal, why did the government let him go abroad?” he asked during a chat with media.
Bilawal said Imran has no interest in fighting corruption. What he desires is just maintaining his rule as a puppet.
He said the Pakistan Tehrik-e-insaf government has squeezed space for civil society, regretting the prime minister had lost the chance to draw strength through engagement with civil society.
The PPP chairman said the role of civil society during dictatorships as well as democratic setups had been crucial in checking undemocratic steps but, regrettably, the present government had shrunk the space for them. The regulatory framework prepared overnight for local and international NGOS shut the doors of financial aid coming through these organisations, he added.
Bilawal said the approach of controlling each and every thing in the country as a display of one’s power had caused much damage to the country because it robbed the state of a healthy constructive criticism.
Advocating for not taking criticism as treason and sedition, he said the PPP would try to change the paradigm and reconnect with civil society for better outcomes of pro-people policies.
To a question about Ali Wazir’s statement in which the Pushtun Tahaffuz Movement member of the National Assembly allegedly urged the United States to bomb certain Pakistani cities, Bilawal said he condemned if any such a statement had been made, recalling that such remarks had been made in the past calling for strikes at safe havens of terrorists. He said his party too wanted action against havens of terrorists whether in Rawalpindi or the erstwhile Federally Administered Tribal Areas but by the state and not foreign countries.