Bilawal promises to protect rights of G-B people

Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has pledged to make Gilgit-Baltistan (G-B) a province and give Constitutional rights to the people of the region.

During electioneering in the region on Sunday, he visited various areas of the mountainous region and inaugurated an election office in Nasirabad area of Hunza Valley.

Over a dozen political and religious parties – including the country's three major parties Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and PPP – are contesting the polls scheduled to be held on November 15.

The PPP chairman said while carrying forward the mission of his late mother former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, he will work to provide the Constitutional rights of the people of G-B.

The bonding between the people of G-B and the PPP, he said, can be traced back three generations. “We will together establish separate province for the people of G-B and will provide employment to the youth in China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).”

Later in Gojal while addressing a corner meeting, Bilawal said his grandfather and late former prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto abolished the British era’s FCR [Frontier Crime Regulation] system in G-B during 1970s to empower the region. “Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto introduced democracy in G-B and allowed political parties to function.”

Bilawal went on to say that in the previous tenures of his party rule in the centre, the status of the region was elevated and steps were taken to give the people their democratic rights. “Now the PPP wants to give the people of G-B their own province, right to rule, right to choose prime minister of Pakistan and right to property.”

Only during the tenure of PPP the rights of people were ensured in the region, he said, adding that his party will devise a plan to provide Thar coal on a cheaper price to the people of G-B so that they could fulfil their needs during the winter season

“We will also improve the connectivity in the region by providing people a better telecommunication infrastructure.”

The PPP leader also said his party, if elected to power, will increase the number of electoral seats in the region.

In Aliabad, Bilawal urged the crowd to vote for his party in order to get their long-standing demands fulfilled.

“As long as your voice is not heard in Islamabad nothing will be solved. We will make G-B a province and will deliver your constitutional rights,” he pledged.

Without naming his opponent, Bilawal said his party would not let anyone to take back subsidies and increase taxes in the region “until you come at par with the rest of Pakistan”.

“You should vote for the PPP because it will fulfil your demands. We will restore all the people back on jobs who were laid off by other governments.”

The PPP wants to give jobs to women of G-B according to the vision of late Benazir, Bilawal said while condemning the foul language used by a PTI minister during the election campaign.

“The people also condemned this minister's foul language which is against the traditions of the people of Gilgit Baltistan.”