LAHORE: Punjab Information and Culture Minister Azma Bokhari has said that Bilawal Zardari should first seek the resignations of his father and the Chairman Senate instead of predicting the government’s downfall.
She said that Bilawal Zardari does not appear to be in good spirits these days and has been delivering speeches in a raised voice because he is unsettled by Maryam Nawaz’s performance.
Azma Bokhari said it is not possible for their party leadership to be insulted while they remain silent. She added that Maryam Nawaz can be the Pakistan Muslim League (N)’s candidate for Prime Minister in the next general elections, and whether the Pakistan People’s Party seeks reconciliation or confrontation, “we are prepared for both.”
She further said that Bilawal is short-tempered and lacks restraint in his choice of words. She said the Charter of Democracy was signed, but it appears that Bilawal himself has trampled it underfoot. She added that they only respond when such remarks are made, ignoring 80 percent of Bilawal’s statements and responding only to 20 percent, particularly when the line is crossed.
Azma Bokhari said every political party has its own history, including the Pakistan People’s Party, and therefore she is reserving her comments for now. She said that if an opposing candidate has to disappear for Bilawal to secure his family’s seat in Nawabshah, and if local government elections are conducted in the manner witnessed by the world, then the feudal elite of Sindh should first free the farmers and citizens of interior Sindh from police dominance before talking about elections.
Referring to Mirpur Division and the refugee seats, she said the Pakistan People’s Party has not won the refugee seats for the past forty years and will face defeat again on the second as well. She said that instead of making faces and ridiculing others, political leaders should focus on the issues faced by the public. She added that similar claims of a government’s “countdown” had been made in the past by another individual, and everyone knows where he is today.
Azma Bokhari said that, in principle, Bilawal Zardari should first ensure the resignation of all those holding offices he calls illegitimate. She noted that the same government elected the President through parliamentary votes and that the Governor of Punjab also holds office under the same political arrangement. She said that if the government’s countdown has truly begun, then Bilawal’s allies should be the first to leave office. She added that the office of the Chairman Senate should be returned to the PML-N and the Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly should also resign immediately so that it becomes clear that if they consider the government illegitimate, they do not accept the mandate under which they themselves hold office.
She said she visited Karachi about one and a half months ago and found the city’s condition worse than before. She expressed surprise that even in upscale areas, near the Italian Embassy, there were large heaps of garbage, questioning what kind of reports foreign missions would be sending to their governments. She said she had witnessed Karachi’s condition herself and suggested that at least the areas surrounding diplomatic missions should be kept clean.
Azma Bokhari said that Maryam Nawaz Sharif can be the Pakistan Muslim League (N)’s candidate for Prime Minister and is the future of the party. She said the party will decide in which election she will contest, but there is no second opinion that the backbone of the PML-N today is the performance delivered by Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz during the past two and a quarter years in Punjab.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2026
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