Bilawal Bhutto due in Rahim Yar Khan for ‘historic’ rally on Saturday

This is his first public gathering in the city

LAHORE: Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari is expected to take on the Punjab government for not transferring powers to local governments in his first public gathering in Rahim Yar Khan scheduled on Saturday.

PPP’s senior leaders say that Bilawal will also speak about the government’s tactics to steal the party’s mandate in RY Khan - the only district where the PPP had secured a majority in local government elections.



“The public gathering is planned in an open space in Jamaldin Wali. Hundreds of thousands of people are expected to attend the gathering. This will be the first public jalsa of the PPP in the Punjab since the assassination of Benazir Bhutto in Rawalpindi,” Shaheen Qadir, the chief coordinator for the event, told The Express Tribune.

PPP south Punjab president Makhdoom Ahmed Mehmood says that Bilawal’s public appearance in RY Khan will resonate across the Punjab.

“PPP’s vote bank is still strong. The victory of the party in RY Khan is proof of that. This will be the opening rally for the PPP chairman. Next, he will tour other cities in south Punjab,” he says.

Mehmood says the party PPP will regain some of the lost ground this way.

Candidates backed by the PPP took 80 out of 139 seats in RY Khan in the local government elections. Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz candidates secured 46 seats and the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) candidates won two seats.

Javed Akbar Dhillion, a former PPP former MPA from RY Khan, says preparations for the procession are in full swing.

“Jiyalas are very excited about Bilawal’s arrival. This will be a historic event,” he says.

He says the PPP chairman will visit Bahawalpur where he will attend some meetings with the party’s office bearers and workers.

He said the party’s top leadership would attend the public meeting on Saturday.



Separately, PPP Lahore celebrated the 87th birthday of Begum Nusrat Bhutto in Green Town on Wednesday.

The ceremony was held in front of a large portrait of Begum Nusrat Bhutto, Shaheed Benazir Bhutto and Asif Ali Zardari.

PPP’s information secretary Faisal Mir and PPP’s zone 154 president Zarrar Yusaf cut cake decorated in PPP’s colours. A large number of PPP workers were also present.

Rich tributes were paid by the speakers to the contributions of Begum Nusrat Bhutto towards the revival of democracy in Pakistan.

PPP Lahore information secretary Faisal Mir said that Begum Nusrat Bhutto and Benazir Bhutto were among two greatest leaders of Pakistan.

“PML-N leaders exposed their pettiness on Women’s Day this year when portraits of Begum Nusrat Bhutto and Benazir Bhutto were not displayed in Lahore among portraits of leading women of the country,” he said.

Yusaf said Begum Nusrat Bhutto was the only politician in the world who had lost her husband, two sons and a daughter in the struggle for democracy.

He also spoke on her role in organisation of women wings of the PPP when party was formed in 1967.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 24^th, 2016.