ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairperson Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, speaking during the ongoing budget session in the National Assembly on Monday, blasted Prime Minister Imran Khan over the government’s Covid-19 response.

He said the premier now has only two options: either ask the public and the assembly for forgiveness for what he claimed destroying the national economy and endangering public lives or step down and let someone qualified take charge.

He said when the premier took notice of the wheat, flour, sugar, and masks issues, their prices went up. He taunted the prime minister, asking him to not take more notices of anything and instead put himself in self-quarantine instead of destroying the country.

Bilawal has demanded of Prime Minister Imran Khan to render an apology to the nation for ruining the economy of the country. He also strongly criticised Prime Minister Imran Khan for calling the notorious terrorist Osama Bin Laden, a "Shaheed".

Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said that Imran Khan used to criticise previous governments for petrol levy but his own government even before the budget was passed announced an unprecedented increase in petrol price.

This petrol bomb for people was introduced at a time when Pakistan is facing global recession, Covid-19 and locust attack which has destroyed growers of Pakistan. This increase is illegal and callous as OGRA was not consulted and the notification was not issued by OGRA. He asked how a minister can issue the notification of petrol price increase which is totally illegal. He said that the government has robbed the people of Pakistan instead giving them relief.

Bilawal Bhutto Zardari advised the Prime Minister Imran Khan to stop taking notices because whenever he has taken notice of anything, the prices have gone up. Khan took notice of increase in the price of medicine, he took notice of masks and the prices went further up, the prices went further up, he took notice of wheat price, the price went further up, he took notice of Sugar price, the price went further up so he should put himself in quarantine and stop taking notices.

Chairman PPP said that the government is putting blame of plane crash in Karachi on the pilot and the air traffic controller just to hide its own failures. Opposition had asked the government to keep suspending the flights until Covid-19 is under control but the government did not listen. The aviation minister said that the pilots were talking about Corona before the plane went down. The aviation minister also said that there are fake degrees of pilots but the degree of the aviation minister was proved to be fake and he had left PPP and joined the PML-Q and then PTI. How a fake degree holder can accuse the pilots of fake degrees, he asked.

Bilawal said that this government thinks that every employment is political. This callous government refuses to increase the salaries and pensions of its own government employees. Now Pakistan is being defamed in all over the world. Sweden did not lockdown and the numbers of deaths in Sweden is very high and now similar strategy is being practiced in Pakistan. The people of Sindh are facing power cuts on a regular basis but the federal government is unmoved. Our people are facing difficulties but the government is not providing them health facilities and power. We had asked government to tax rich but it has taxed poor people of Pakistan.

The PPP Chairman said that this budget cannot deal with the Covid-19, locust attacks, agriculture sector problems and sagging economy. The mantra of government is only "thief, thief" but none of the cases have been proved in any court of law. PPP members have been absolved in all the cases against them. Recently, the former Prime Minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf was absolved from any wrong doing in rental power case so government should apologise to him, he demanded.

Bilawal Bhutto Zardari very strongly condemned the Prime Minister Imran Khan who had called the notorious and disreputable terrorist Osama Bin Laden who martyred thousands of soldiers, men, women and children in Pakistan, a Shaheed.

Imran Khan does not call Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto Shaheed who was killed by terrorists. He called Imran Khan a coward.

However, the speaker expunged the word “coward.”

Addressing the speaker, Chairman PPP said that he did not expunge the word Shaheed used for Osama Bin Laden by the Prime Minister Imran Khan. NNI