Bilawal demands level-playing field

Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari lamented on Tuesday lack of a level-playing field to political parties, while campaigning for the upcoming general elections, demanding that the “old ways” of running the country must be changed.

Speaking at news conference in Sukkur, the PPP chairman blamed the “wrong policy” of the previous Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government, and called for the accountability of those whose “self-sabotaging” national security policy resuscitated the dying terrorism in the country.

Bilawal mentioned former prime minister Imran Khan and former director general of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Lt-Gen (retd) Faiz Hameed by name and asked them to explain if they were unaware of the repercussions of their policy of rehabilitation of terrorists breaking free from Afghan jails.

“Did they not know it won’t take long for the terrorists to reach Karachi and other parts of Pakistan in no time once they are settled in the tribal areas? How they didn’t know that the terrorists who martyred children and teachers … and the soldiers won’t attack Pakistan army again,” he questioned.

The PPP chairman demanded: “... If they are politicians they should be held accountable by us politicians, but if they are in any other institution they should be held accountable by that institution.”

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Bilawal recalled that during the change of government in Afghanistan in August 2021, Pakistani borders were kept open. He stressed the need for revealing the true story behind allowing the return of terrorists to Pakistan, saying it was the right of the people, especially those who lost their loved-ones.

“How is it possible that the citizens, leaders, soldiers and policemen keep giving sacrifices and then we defeat terrorists in Pakistan but later two or three individuals decide that they can forgive terrorists without seeking permission from parliament and the people?” he wondered.

Bilawal, who served as the foreign minister in the previous coalition government told reporters that the US weapons which made their way to terrorists after their drawdown in Afghanistan, were now being used by bandits infesting the riverbed and forest areas of Sukkur and Larkana divisions of Sindh.

“We can now have a fair idea that how dangerous was the policy of [Imran] Khan and how dangerous its consequences have been,” he said, adding that the state would have to confront terrorists, bandits and other outlaws head-on.

He lamented that the tendency of following the “ostrich politics” had prevailed in Pakistan under which the rulers preferred to act evasively, instead of confronting complicated and dangerous issues. “I want that the old way of running this country should be abandoned. We should do justice with our citizens, people, state, institutions.”

In a tribute to his mother, the late Benazir Bhutto, Bilawal said that she was the only political figure among her contemporaries, who spoke bluntly and bravely about fighting terrorists. “Benazir Bhutto, when no male politician could dare, used to stare terrorists in their eyes,” he added.

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"No, there is no level-playing field for anyone. And this is my objection,” Bilawal replied, when asked about it against backdrop of disqualification of two political bigwigs — Nawaz Sharif and Imran Khan —owing to their convictions in separate cases.

He stated that the most pressing issue confronting the country these days was of inflation, which he believed could only be alleviated through timely elections. He believed that poverty and economic crisis were fuelling crimes.

Electricity theft

Commenting on the ongoing crackdown against people using electricity without paying the bills, the PPP chairman said that the actual theft started from the point of denying adequate benefits to the provinces and the local areas contributing in the power generation.

He gave an example of the Thar district of Sindh, where the local population had not received any meaningful compensation from the government even though their coal resource was being used for the generation of cheap electricity.

According to him, the Sindh government, instead of the Centre, was providing subsidy to the Thari people. He blamed the Islamabad-based bureaucracy for stalling progress on the Thar coal project for over two decades.

He said that gas of Sindh and Balochistan was being supplied to other provinces at cheap rates, while the two provinces were being told to buy expensive liquefied natural gas (LNG). “This injustice needs to be addressed because without doing this the issue of electricity theft can’t be resolved.”

He assured that if the PPP formed the next federal government, they would establish solar power plants at least at the divisional level across the country in order to produce cheap electricity. He added that they planned to launch these projects under the public-private partnership.

Earlier, Bilawal, accompanied by former Sindh chief minister Murad Ali Shah and former ministers Sharjeel Inam Memon and Syed Nasir Shah, condoled with the family of slain journalist Jan Muhammad Mahar in Sukkur.

He expressed dismay that the investigation in the murder case was not progressing as per expectations. He requested the Sindh caretaker chief minister to meet Mahar’s family and to listen to their complaints.