Bilawal Bhutto announces nationwide anti-govt protests

Pakistan's Opposition leader Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari has announced that his party would hold nationwide anti-government protests to press Prime Minister Imran Khan to resign and restore "real democracy" in the country.

Bilawal, the chairman of the Pakistan Peoples’ Party, said the government had lost its credibility in the masses as it did not fulfil any of its promises.

"Our demand is to restore democracy [in the country]," he said in his address at a party rally here. "We don't accept this artificial democracy… the democratic and socio-economic rights of the masses shall be restored… and for that Imran Khan has to resign.”

Bilawal, 31, said all opposition parties had decided that the government must step down. "Our anti-government movement has started from Karachi,” he said, as he announced his plan for further protests across the country. He said the PPP will protest in Thar on October 23, demonstrate in Kashmore in Sindh province on October 26 whereas rallies in Punjab will begin from November 1.

"We will tour the entire country... you [Imran Khan] will have to go…We will expose your incompetence in every nook and corner of the country,” he said. The PPP chairman said his party had always played a constructive role for the supremacy of Parliament but to no avail. "Imran Khan neither has the capability nor seriousness to govern a country of 200 million people,” he said.

“Parliament has been side-lined and politicians have taken to the streets.” Bilawal alleged that the incumbent rulers had compromised on the issue of Kashmir. The PPP leader said the 2018 elections were massively rigged, and even banned outfits were allowed to contest the polls. "We don't want our institutions to be controversial but when army personnel are deployed inside polling stations, their credibility will be questioned,” he said.