Don’t shy away from polls, Bilawal tells ex-allies

Advises former coalition partners not to create void for any other party to fill

HYDERABAD:

Continuing his campaign against the potential postponement of the general elections, PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari urged former coalition partners not to shy away from the polls. He warned them that if any party avoided the elections, another would step in to fill the void.

Speaking at the inauguration of a water filtration plant in Hussainabad, Hyderabad, Bilawal did not explicitly name the PML-N or any other party from the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) but made it clear that avoiding the elections would lead to political demise. He quoted an axiom, "Jo darr gaya, who mar gaya" (the one who caves in to fear, dies).

He noted that some former allies had previously tried to evade by-elections and local government polls and appeared to be contemplating avoiding the general elections. Bilawal stated that if any allies chose to do so, they should proceed, but the people would know that when one party withdrew, another would step in to take its place.

He corroborated his assertion by giving the example of the MQM-P, which had boycotted the LG elections in Sindh.
Bilawal believed that the PTI would not have bagged seats in Karachi and Hyderabad in the LG polls if the MQM-P had not pulled itself out from the electoral fray.

Read more: Bilawal and Zardari ‘at odds’ over election

"I stopped short of touching their [MQM-P leaders] feet, but I begged them to contest the local government elections in Karachi and Hyderabad and not to give its space to an anti-Pakistan party, which was responsible for the May 9 violence," he continued.

The PPP chairman said he had offered a proposition to the MQM-P under which both the parties were supposed to agree on accepting the verdict of the voters.

"However, they [MQM-P leaders] became afraid and backed out [of the polls]."

Live: Inauguration Ceremony of Hussainabad Water Filtration PlantinHyderabad https://t.co/Xu0pGGZeYm

— Pakistan Peoples Party - PPP (@PPP_Org) September 10, 2023

Bilawal said the PPP was alive today because the party had endured martyrdom of its leaders and activists as well as faced other suppressive tactics but remained steadfast in the arena of electoral politics.

He added that it was not part of the PPP's training to run away from elections or to fear their outcome. "We kept on fighting while carrying our martyrs on our shoulders."

The PPP chairman vowed to defeat the PTI in other parts of the country like his party trounced the latter in the LG elections in Karachi and Hyderabad.

He promised the PPP supporters that he would "wipe out" the PTI because it had remained indulged in the politics of “hatred and division”.

He further maintained that besides attempting to create rifts between the institutions and the people of Pakistan, the PTI also orchestrated the attacks on the GHQ in Rawalpindi and the Jinnah House in Lahore on May 9.

Also read: PPP signals flexibility on election date

Bilawal claimed that he would neither confront the PTI with the backing of a caretaker prime minister or chief minister, nor with the support of a police high-up or a bureaucrat.

“I will fight this anti-Pakistan party with the public's support.”

Bilawal asked his supporters to come to the PPP’s aid to respond to the unending character assassination campaign, which was under way against the party for three generations, starting from the time of its founder and his maternal grandfather, former premier Zulfikar Ali Bhutto.

He urged the supporters to create and upload videos of the PPP's accomplishments in Sindh and share them with the people of Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa using social media platforms.

The PPP chief said the PTI’s “naive” political activists needed help in comprehending the fact that a cricketer [former premier Imran Khan] was unable to deliver to the people like the way his experienced party could.

"Let’s help the ‘burger children’ understand that if you want a heart treatment in the NICVD [National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases], this is going to happen only thanks to the martyrs' party [PPP] and not because of some cricketer."

Bilawal believed that initiatives including the Sindh Solid Waste Management Board (SSWMB) and Peoples Bus Service were delivering the desired objectives though not optimally yet.

According to him, he had envisaged the bus service to provide quality and air conditioned road transport to the public at a maximum fare of Rs50 per ride.

"Like the way I have given a water plant to Hyderabad, I want to give [one] to Multan, Faisalabad and Peshawar [as well]."

Former Sindh chief minister Murad Ali Shah; PPP Sindh President Nisar Khuhro; and ex-provincial ministers Sharjeel Inam Memon, Syed Nasir Shah and Jam Khan Shoro also expressed their views on the occasion.