PPP-US President Khalid Awan revealed that Pakistan Peoples Party chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari will not visit Washington during his week-long trip to the US.
Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah and Sindh Health Minister Azra Pachecho are also in the United States and Zardari joined them Monday. All three have claimed their trips to be private in nature.
There's been much speculation about Zardari's visit to the US with government officials claiming he was planning on destabilizing the government.
Leading that charge was special assistant to the prime minister Shahbaz Gill who described Zardari's trip as a political visit to strike a deal “for power”.
He accused Bilawal of “visiting Washington like his father” for power, and declaring that “perhaps Bilawal does not know that the world and Pakistan have changed.”
Debunking the claim, Awan called Gill “devoid of intellect” and asked him to find out where Bilawal was going before “screaming” accusations.
Gill's accusationsDuring a press conference earlier in the month, Gill claimed that Zardari will “take his CV to Washington to get a job," and that his party will not let “such deals” be signed.
He also accused the PPP of approving drone attacks in Pakistan during Zardari’s regime, stating that “344 drone attacks were carried out in Pakistan’s territory while in Musharaf regime number of drone attacks was 13.” He then went on to remind the PPP that Imran Khan has refused to hand over airbases to foreign powers.
PPP Parliamentarians’ Secretary Shazia Atta Marri responded to Gill’s claims in a statement on July 4 calling the PTI government “puppet rulers,” claiming that Gill is concerned about the PPP chairman's trip because Prime Minister Imran Khan “cannot go the US without diplomatic immunity because of his pending cases in USA courts.”