Bilawal says time for political dialogue with government long gone

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan People Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said on Friday that the time for political dialogue with the government was over.
His statement came only a few days after Prime Minister Imran Khan announced that the government was always open to national dialogue since such political conversations were essential to democracy.
The PPP chairman also denied that there were any differences within the opposition Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) alliance.
"The PDM has decided that leaders of its constituent parties will receive resignations [of their lawmakers in the national and provincial assemblies] by 31st December," he said. "The Pakistan Peoples Party is also part of that decision. I have been receiving resignations one after another, and I will have all of them in my pocket before the deadline."
Bilawal criticized those who thought that PDM factions would stop questioning the establishment's role in politics, saying such individuals were wrong in making that assumption.
He said that the establishment would not only have to stop propping up the current political administration but also end curbing dissenting voices.
"As long as this does not happen, no PDM faction will abandon this cause," he added.
The PPP chairman made these statements during a media interaction after his meeting in Lahore with Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Vice President Maryam Sharif.
Analysts have speculated that the PPP would not resign from national and provincial assemblies since its administration runs the province of Sindh.
"I am taking the case to the party's central executive committee that we should sacrifice our Sindh government and National Assembly seats if it can send this government and its facilitators home," he said in response to a question about how far his party was willing to go with the PDM's resignation initiative.
Addressing the media, the PML-N vice president claimed that the government was doing its best to reach out to the PDM leadership.
"Their sitting ministers are trying to establish contacts with us," she said. "However, I don't attribute much significance to such efforts or feel obliged to respond."
Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Shibli Faraz said during a media briefing in Islamabad that the opposition was in a state of "panic" since it knew it had entered a "dead-end street."
He maintained that the PDM was forcing people to resign, adding that it would not succeed in putting the government under pressure.

Bilawal says time for political dialogue with government long gone