PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari on Sunday said he was ready for “any debate and scrutiny” with PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif, stating that “deflecting” from his challenge would not work.
“Please tell me the time and place Mian sahib would like to debate,” the former foreign minister said in a post on X (formerly Twitter).
Bilawal has repeatedly criticised the PML-N during his election trail as the competition heats up with less than two weeks to go to the February 8 general elections. The PPP scion’s digs have prompted responses from the PML-N’s top echelon in return.
On Friday, Bilawal proposed a debate between him and Nawaz any time before the election day. “Globally, presidential and prime ministerial candidates participate in televised debates, providing voters with crucial insights into their plans. This transparency is vital for an informed electorate ahead of the voting process,” he had said.
In an apparent response to the challenge, Shehbaz said it would have been better if the “gentlemen” had invited Nawaz to an inspection of Sindh than a debate. The younger Sharif echoed the same during an election rally in Rawalpindi.
Subsequently, Bilawal had demanded the “city and on which date your brother wants to debate”.
In a post on X today, the ex-foreign minister proposed three locations for the debate with Nawaz: Khairpur’s Gambat, Tharparkar and Karachi’s National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases.
“He can come and visit the Gambat Institute of Medical Sciences, a hospital that surpasses any hospital in Punjab, and where all treatment is absolutely free,” Bilawal said.
He claimed that despite being the prime minister thrice, Nawaz had never once visited Gambat. “Or perhaps he would prefer to come to Tharparkar, where we can also inspect the infrastructure, and compare Thar with Cholistan.”
“The coal project in Thar, which you and your brother opposed, is providing cheap electricity not to Karachi, but to Faisalabad. Or perhaps Mian sahib, would prefer to have a debate at the NICVD in Karachi, where over the past five years more than 84,000 people from Punjab have been treated absolutely free of cost, proving Punjab’s hospitals don’t provide the same level of care we do in Sindh,” Bilawal added.
‘Hunting the tiger down’
During his election campaign, Bilawal has time and again lambasted the PML-N for “fixing the match” and vowed to “hunt the tiger down with the arrow”, a reference to the PPP and PML-N’s electoral symbols.
At a rally in Peshawar yesterday, the PPP chairman criticised his political opponents over their “reluctance” to campaign for the Feb 8 elections over the “flimsy excuses of cold weather and security threats”.
He had said Nawaz became the prime minister but couldn’t protect his government despite having his two-thirds majority in the National Assembly and later resorted to the narrative of “mujhe kyun nikala (why was I ousted?)”.
“Our opponents insist they’re contesting election on the basis of their ‘good’ performance in the government. Actually, they’re claiming credit for our accomplishments,” Bilawal had added.
Previously, he also sought the votes of PML-N supporters for the sake of democracy. “If the PML-N workers want democracy and sanctity of the vote to prevail, they should stamp the symbol of the arrow,” the PPP chairman had said.
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