Giving impression of predetermined polls results 'insult to people': Bilawal Bhutto

Islamabad: Taking a swipe at Nawaz Sharif, PPP chief Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari has said that “giving an impression” of pre-decided results of the upcoming general elections is “an insult to the people” of Pakistan, as he criticised the three-time former prime minister of "not campaigning enough".

The 35-year-old Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bhutto-Zardari, who was nominated as the party's official prime ministerial candidate last month, made the comments in a podcast interview, according to the Dawn newspaper.

“Even if that’s not true, just giving that impression is an insult to the people. […] Sure, you have been the prime minister three times [but] tell us what you want to do,” the former foreign minister said, referring to the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supremo Sharif.

Bhutto-Zardari also criticised the 73-year-old former prime minister for “not campaigning” enough, saying it affected the legitimacy of the general elections scheduled for next week.

The PML-N leader was ousted from power thrice in 1993, 1999 and 2017.

Sharif is the only Pakistani politician who became the prime minister of the coup-prone country for a record three times.

He ended his four-year self-imposed exile in the UK and returned to Pakistan in October last year after securing what his opponents and political analysts described as “blessings of the powerful military establishment.”

His party is considered the favourite to win next week's polls for the same reasons, with some opposition parties terming him a ‘Laadla’ (favourite) of the establishment.