Bilawal asks rivals to give up 'selection' hopes

Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on Monday issued a veiled warning to the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, saying that those who thought of coming to power through the tactics used by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) in 2018 elections would fail.

Bilawal addressed a large public rally in Thar desert to kick off the PPP’s campaign for Feb 8, 2024 general elections, a day after the senior PML-N leaders held extensive talks with anti-PPP parties in Sindh to cobble up a broad-based alliance.

The public gathering in Thar drew tens of thousands of supporters, making it the largest power show in the desert.

The rally coincided with Diwali celebrations by the communities of Thar, Umerkot, and Mirpurkhas districts, with their notable presence at the event.

For quite some time, the PPP had been complaining that it was not being given the level-playing field for the upcoming elections. It is also critical of the way the PML-N, particularly its supremo Nawaz Sharif, is being “facilitated” in Punjab.

Referring to Nawaz as the "Ladla-Plus", the PPP expressed concerns, alleging that the PML-N was receiving similar treatment and facilitation as the PTI had in the 2018 elections. Due to this, Bilawal had always labelled former prime minister Imran Khan as "selected."

Addressing the Thar rally, Bilawal refrained from explicitly mentioning the PML-N, a significant partner in the previous Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) led coalition government. Instead, he vaguely referred to them as "our friends who are also contesting" the elections.

In a similar tone, Bilawal emphasised, "If they believe they can emulate the PTI's tactics to secure election victories, the public will respond. The arrow [PPP’s election symbol] will triumph, and inflation will be defeated."

The PPP chairman expressed his confidence that the PPP would knock out both its rivals, the PML-N and the PTI, in the coming elections and a Jiyala would be the next prime minister of Pakistan with the “people’s support”.

“If the efforts of (former) president (Asif Ali) Zardari can get [Shahbaz Sharif] elected as a prime minister for some months, he can surely get elected a Jiyala as the country’s PM for the next term,” Bilawal told a roaring crowd.

On Feb 8, the PPP chairman believed, the people would have “two or three choices” from among the mainstream parties when they go to vote.

He asserted that the masses “will punish Tehreek-e-Inteshar [chaos]” – a reference to the PTI – for its May 9 attacks on state institutions.

The PPP chairman expressed his anticipation that the results of the Feb 8 elections would bring about significant surprises for numerous political parties, particularly those that were strategising behind closed doors.

He emphasised that this time, the people would not tolerate the emergence of another "selected" leader at the helm of the country.

"People won't tolerate any conspiracies this time. Having endured the rule of a selected government, we cannot afford another selected government," he asserted. However, he underscored that the party would respect the people's decision even if they favoured another political entity.

He stressed that the PPP did not consider any political party as its opponent. He cited his grandfather, the late Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, and his mother, the late Benazir Bhutto, who, he added, considered poverty, unemployment, and inflation as their opponents.

Bilawal stressed that unlike other political entities, the PPP neither looked right nor left to get power through back channel.

 

“I only look towards the people of Pakistan. I take power from the people and on its basis, I do politics. I leave my future and my fate in your hands.”

Future plans

“The PPP will be willing to serve the public if they vote for the party to form the government [after the general elections],” the PPP chairman said, adding that they would also accept the results if the people decided in favour of some other party.

Outlining his party’s plans if voted to power, the PPP chairman promised measures to enhance people’s incomes, generating employment opportunities for women and subsidy benefits and support for the labourers and peasants of the country.

Bilawal promised that a PPP government would double the salaries over the next five years and introduce peasant and labour cards to provide education, health, and subsidy benefits to the recipients.

“Together we will fight this difficult economic situation this way.”

According to Bilawal, creating employment opportunities for women would be a priority for his party’s government. He gave his word that the subsidy given to the peasants to buy fertiliser, seeds, and other inputs would in no way end up benefitting the industries or the mills.

On the harmonious co-existence of Muslims and Hindus in Pakistan despite all the propaganda in the international media, he said that Tharparkar shattered all such conspiracies. He termed the desert region of Sindh an epitome of religious harmony.

He mentioned that during his visit to India as Pakistan’s foreign minister, he could not find any single member in that country’s national assembly, who was elected on the ticket of the ruling Bharatya Janata Party (BJP) from the minority communities.

“The people of Thar and the PPP are the answer to all those who are portraying Pakistan as an extremist country,” the PPP chairman told the gathering. “Tharparkar is not only the epitome of religious harmony, it also depicts performance of the PPP and its successive governments in Sindh,” he said.

“Ask any dweller of this desert region that before the PPP government, was there such a network of roads or airports, or educational and health institutions, or employment opportunities,” he said.

Bilawal recalled that in the 1990s, his mother and former prime minister Benazir Bhutto dreamt of harnessing Thar’s coal energy under the slogan of “Thar will change Pakistan”.

He said that the coal mining and power plants established in a single coal block had created around 20,000 jobs.

He added that the work on the other coal block had also started.

“Our performance and hard work in Thar is a source of pride for me.”

Acknowledging that a lot still needed to be done to bring prosperity to the people, he said that the progress made so far was enough to show the PPP’s performance.

PPP Sindh President Nisar Khuhro, former Sindh chief minister Murad Ali Shah and other leaders also addressed the public meeting.

The Hindu women among the crowd, who spoke to the media, said they felt lucky to be celebrating Diwali with Bilawal.