Nawaz Sharif sticking to principles: Bilawal Bhutto

Lahore: Former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) are sticking to principles, Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) chief Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said Monday. “He is very sick. I got no inkling that Nawaz Sharif is willing to compromise on his principles,” he said while speaking to the media after meeting the PML-N chief at Lahore’s Kot Lakhpat Jail. “My father was in jail for over 11 years. He wasn’t even convicted. All the cases against him were reopened and he was acquitted in them,” he said. During this entire time, I never heard anything of a deal being struck between my father and former president Pervez Musharraf, he remarked. Many PPP workers had gathered outside the prison to greet the PPP scion. PPP leader Qamar Zaman Kaira had said that the meeting didn’t have any political agenda. Bilawal expressed similar thoughts.  “I only came here to inquire about Nawaz Sharif’s health.” The PML-N and PPP don’t eye-to-eye on many issues. The political differences will always be there, but our culture and religion teach us to ask about each other’s well-being, he said. “He [Nawaz Sharif] should be given the best medical treatment. I hope the PM and his government think on humanitarian grounds,” he said. The PPP chief said pressure is being put on Nawaz. This injustice cannot continue especially when someone is sick, he remarked. The charter of democracy was signed between former PMs Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif in 2006. They both learnt that only democracy can take the country forward, said Bilawal. “We, however, failed to implement the charter of democracy to its entirety,” he remarked. We didn’t implement judicial reforms. We need to emphasise the charter of democracy, he added. Bilawal said that the day is quite historic for him. Many PPP workers were jailed in this prison when they stood up against dictatorship, he added.