People eking out a tough living owing to govt policies: Bilawal

DERA ISMAIL KHAN: Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari says he is struggling to protect the economic, democratic and human rights of the masses.

Addressing a public gathering here, he said the place he is standing at has seen dictators and terrorists taking their toll on it.

Being the grandson of Zulfikar Bhutto and son of Benazir Bhutto, the young PPP leader said, he fathomed the pain the people have endured here.

PPP activists from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa waged a great struggle with his mother, former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, he added.

Mr Bhutto-Zardari asked if asking a question, standing for the rights of the depressed, and being loyal to martyrs is a crime here. “If this all is a crime, yes, I am a criminal and traitor. We all are traitors and criminals,” he added.

Taking aim at Prime Minister Imran Khan, he asked if, as promised by the PTI government, hospitals have been set up for provision of free healthcare, 10 million jobs provided and 5 million housing units built.

The PPP leader said our sovereignty has been surrendered as the government agreed to every demand of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a $6 billion bailout package.

He said the PTI government has made it difficult for the people to eke out a living and alleged rigging in the passage of the budget for the fiscal year 2019-20 from the National Assembly.

There is a storm of taxes, a tsunami of inflation and unemployment for the common man, lamented the PPP leader.