PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on Wednesday called for disbanding the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) and urged all the political parties to join hands to achieve the goal.

It’s time to defend the Constitution, Bilawal said and added that there was no question of PPP making any compromise. His party would lead the fight for protecting the 1973 Constitution, he vowed.

Defending the Constitution is the duty of everyone, including the military, he remarked at a press conference in Lahore.

“I haven’t given a call for a march. Don’t push us towards that,” he warned and added that it would be the last option.

He said the verdict in the Khawaja Saad Rafique case made it clear that the NAB was being used for political engineering, describing the anti-graft body as unconstitutional and demanding resignation of its chairman.

Abolish NAB as a first step, said Bilawal. He added that all the persons, including PPP leader Khursheed Shah, imprisoned under the NAB law should immediately be released after the apex court verdict, as he excerpts from the judgment.

The PPP chairman said the PTI had no reason to stay in power and not ready to act against or answer to the corruption allegations under its government.

Bilawal also raised serious questions over the escape of Ehsanullah Ehsan and the threat he hurled at him through a tweet. The government isn’t ready to explain how the notorious terrorists managed to escape, he added.

“You talk about the government corruption and get threatened by Ehsanullah Ehsan,” he remarked in reference to his speech in the National Assembly and threatening tweet the next day.

The PTI government hasn’t yet even clarified Prime Minister Imran Khan’s statement in which he declared Osama bin Laden a martyr, the PPP chairman reminded the audience.

About the changes being brought in the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) to meet the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) demands, Bilawal said the PTI government was trying to further restrict democratic freedom while using the international obligations as a disguise.

He was referring to the amendment in ATA which enable the government to imprison any person for up to six months without any formal case on mere charges to money laundering. Furthermore, the matter would be decided by the interior and home secretaries.

About the All Parties Conference (APC) and the future course of action, Bilawal said the meeting would be held after the full recovery of PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif.

Both PPP and PML-N required a level-playing field – which did not get in the past – if the midterm elections were to be held, he said and added that the two parties should be allowed to form government in Centre and Punjab without any manipulation.

Bilawal said they would to get the National Assembly speaker changed no matter he changed his attitude or not. All the options – mid-term elections, in-house change and protest – are open in the present situation, he added.