Bilawal vows to form govt in ‘G-B as well as in Centre’

Pakistan People Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has said that his party will not only form a government in Gilgit-Baltistan (G-B) but also in the Centre.

"After winning November 15 election, the PPP will form a government in G-B and then in January it will form a federal government with its allies," he said while addressing a public gathering in Nagar, an area of G-B on Tuesday.

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.

Bilawal called upon the people to only vote for his party in the upcoming election and expressed displeasure that religious parties of G-B are supporting the ruling PTI. “They should be siding with the oppressed not the oppressor.”

He said the relation between his party and the people of mountainous areas can be traced back to three generations because they both share same ideology.

“The ideology is that Islam is our religion, democracy is our politics, equality is our economy, all powers to the people and Shahadat [martyrdom] is our destination," he added.

Bilawal said he had been campaigning in the area for the last three week and visited every nook and corner of G-B.

PPP leaders including Senator Sherry Rehman, Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar, Faisal Karim Kundi also present with their party chief.

Bilawal said that during 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.”

“We have to take your representatives to the National Assembly, Senate so that they could also vote for the prime minister of Pakistan..,” he added.

He claimed that people of G-B are struggling to integrate with rest of the country but those sitting in Islamabad are not paying heed to their demand.

Bilawal pledged to give the people of region their Constitutional rights and added that his grandfather late Zulfikar Ali Bhutto introduced parliamentary democracy in the country. “They might be thinking to withdraw subsidy on wheat and increase taxes in return of province but first we will compensate the people of G-B for the injustices meted out to them in the last 70 years.”

He claimed that notification has been issued by the federal government to impose taxes in the region even before making it a province.

“We condemn the notification of taxes even before making G-B a province. Now we are making government in G-B after 15 November and will legislate for right to property within three months,” he promised.

He also assured the people that his party would make all-out efforts to ensure maximum benefits of the multibillion-dollar China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) projects to the people of the area.

“Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto laid the foundation of friendship between China and Pakistan and PPP has 50 years history of friendship with Chinese communist party,” he added.