Bilawal issues fresh challenge to govt

PPP lists four key demands; threatens to mount long march if these are unmet by Dec 27

KARACHI: Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari turned up the political heat on Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s government by challenging it to fulfill four principal demands if it wants to stave off the threat of a long march by the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP).

Bilawal urged the government to reconstitute the national parliamentary security committee, adopt the bill moved by the PPP on the Panama Papers and implement Asif Zardari’s resolution on the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor.

He also called for appointing a foreign minister as soon as possible. The prime minister is currently serving in this capacity and his top aides Sartaj Aziz and Tariq Fatemi advise him on policy matters.

Bilawal outlined the demands as the Salam Shuhada rally reached Karsaz.

“Benazir Bhutto embodied the only hope for the people when she returned to Pakistan on Ocotber 18, 2007,” the PPP chairperson said as the rally departed from Bilawal Chowrangi on Sunday evening.



“She (Benazir) returned (home) to liberate people … from tyranny, poverty, terrorism, unemployment, and this outdated system, politics of ethnicity, and from ‘contractors’ of religion, but was martyred,” Bilawal said. Terming the October 18, 2007 blast one of the biggest acts of terrorism against any political party in Pakistan’s history, he said that people as a rule tend to run away from the blast, but on October 18, people ran towards the bomb blast to protect their leader.

Criticising PM Nawaz, Bilawal said that he was destroying the country and people were disappointed by his policies. In a swipe at Imran Khan, he said the PTI chief’s “immature politics would imbue the prime minister with more power”.

Addressing party workers, he talked of a change in Karachi, saying that if people continued to support him, “we can bring changes in Pakistan, too”.

Boasting to free Pakistan from the scourge of terrorism, he said that he would also “get rid of poverty, unemployment, illiteracy, sectarianism and all other evils”.

Thousands of people from Karachi alone took part in the rally, chanting pro-Bilawal slogans.

Despite hot and dry weather throughout the day, participants of the rally were charged up.  Hundreds of cars, thousands of bikes, rickshaws and buses accompanied people on foot in the rally. A number of donkey cart riders were also seen at the rally. All roads leading up to the rally were blocked with containers and a large number of police personnel were deployed along the rally’s route.

The party’s top leaders, including former PM Yousuf Raza Gilani, Raja Pervaiz Ashraf, Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah and Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Khursheed Shah, attended Sunday’s rally.

Lyari

The rally made its first stop in Lyari at around 5:30pm. Branding Lyari the second home to his maternal grandfather and mother, Bilawal said as it was home to many a martyrs “it is my home too … I am a son of Lyari”.

Lyari, according to him, had been destabilised in a pre-planned manner.

Urging the people of Lyari to vote for the‘arrow’ in the upcoming PS 110 elections, he reminded them that his party had already won the PS-127 elections. Without naming the MQM, he said that the ‘kite’ [the party’s symbol} was now in a nosedive in Karachi, adding that those who thought about dividing Sindh had themselves been divided.

He said: “We’ll celebrate Basant in Karachi in 2018 elections.” Khursheed Shah said: “We will screen a similar trailer in Lahore too.”

Quaid’s mausoleum

The rally reached Quaid’s Masoleum around 8pm, where Bilawal also addressed the rally.

He said that small provinces were being kept at a distance from Pakistan. He said the Quaid had envisioned a prosperous and peaceful Pakistan, but his city was overwhelmed by bloodshed.  He reminded the audience that people who usurped the Constitution roamed free, while those who tried to raise their voice for their rights were sent to jail.

He said: “The Quaid is my witness; I pledge I will struggle for Kashmir and free Pakistan from all terrorists.”

Karsaz

Blaming the government for devising weak foreign, economic and Kashmir policies, he said that it was weakening Pakistan.

Bilawal said that if the PPP demands were not met, his party would stage a long-march on December 27.

He remarked: “We want to send a message (the world over) that Pakistan needs peace, democracy, and we (also) need freedom of Kashmir.”

Enumerating Pakistan’s encounters with terrorists in the past, he said: “Who is Modi to brand us terrorists? Modi, the butcher of Gujarat, has now become the butcher of Kashmir.”

He urged the prime minister not to cultivate personal ties with Modi, and criticised Imran Khan for “requesting to meet Modi on his personal tour to India”.

Stressing the need for national unity, he said that it was of utmost interest, but the prime minister had miserably failed on this count.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 17^th, 2016.