Chairman Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari on Monday criticised the government over the Ghotki train accident and said that he was shocked at the ‘callous’ attitude of the government.
Differences between the PPP and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) also became visible in the National Assembly (NA) session when PML-N’s Ahsan Iqbal criticised the chair for giving the floor to the PPP chairman before him. Ahsan Iqbal said that being from the largest Opposition party, it was his right to get the floor first. When Bilawal took the floor again, he hit out at Iqbal and the PML-N and termed him an “office-bearer only on papers”.
Responding to Bilawal’s remarks, Ahsan Iqbal tweeted, “PTI attacks him [Bilawal] for a will written on a piece of paper. I don’t know why he felt the need to attack me with this piece of paper issue.”
Speaking on the floor, Bilawal said a tragic incident has occurred in Ghotki and lamented that a poor person’s life is not safe during travel via the railways.
“They (government) do political point-scoring even when an incident like these happen,” he said, adding, “I want to convey a message to the affectees of the crash: We stand with you and demand answers from the authorities.”
Later in the day, Bilawal tweeted that his request to suspend all other business to discuss Ghotki train accident was denied by Deputy Speaker Qasim Suri.
“PM, railway minister not in NA to answer why in three years of this government we’ve had more train accidents than any other govt in history of Pakistan. Shocked at callous attitude of govt,” he added.
