Reviving the foundations

The Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) turns 56 today. This year, it is celebrating its 56^th Foundation Day in Quetta. The founding mission of the PPP with a slogan of Roti, Kapra aur Makan is still as relevant as it was more than five decades ago. Until the people are not provided with the very essentials of life — food, clothing and shelter — PPP would remain politically valid and relevant in Pakistan.

Its sitting chairman, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, is the youngest among all heading the political parties in Pakistan, where we have 70 per cent of our population under 35 which is his age group. That makes him exceptional with exclusive challenges and opportunities. Besides, another acclaim is that Bilawal is the country’s youngest foreign minister who served for 15 months as part of the coalition government that completed its term in August 2023.

Since then, Bilawal has been aggressively running his campaign for the election date and the schedule. He deserves credit for the Election Commission of Pakistan announcing February 8, 2024 as the date for the general elections. The schedule is, however, yet to be announced.

Bilawal has also been travelling across the country, holding party meetings and conventions. Recently, he had been in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa where he was very open and blunt with his views on changing the genesis and patterns of politics in Pakistan.

In the 35^th year of his life and on the 56^th birth anniversary of the party he heads, his views and ideas about the politics are futuristic and optimistic. Reviving the founding philosophy and ideals of the PPP, he talks more about the future of our younger generation and the generations to come. He not only has dreams, but also plans with tangible and successful projects that the PPP through its government in Sindh introduced in recent years — ranging from state-of-the-art free healthcare and education to converting Thar coal into electricity, besides a range of pro-poor and pro-people polices for the people of Sindh to be replicated for the rest of Pakistan.

On its 56^th Foundation Day, the PPP wants the politics of hatred, division and abuse to be abandoned. It also wants to leave behind old ways of doing politics that are based on politicians fighting each other instead of serving the people, and go about a new kind of politics where politicians look to the people and work to help them. It also wants the politicians to work together to help the people, and understand that if we are able to ensure stability then we can bring in economic stability as well.

For this, the PPP has no enmity with any party. It only wishes to serve the people and whoever comes up as an obstacle would be treated as a rival. It considers poverty, unemployment and inflation as real opponents. Its purpose is to establish a rule of the people, with representation from every province and stratum of society, with no discrimination on the basis of language, creed or religion. The party believes that it cannot accomplish this feat alone and needs the support of the people.

The PPP created history by introducing 18^th Amendment and getting it passed, thereby giving provinces the ownership of their resources. It plans to implement 18^th Amendment and the NFC award in its truest sense. One hundred billion rupees can be saved annually if we fully implement 18^th Amendment by abolishing all devolved ministries. It plans to save this amount and spend it on our elders, for their medical treatment, as well as the young and their education. This time, it envisions a budget that incorporates Kissan and Mazdoor cards to help the labourers and peasants.

The dream of the PPP is to see Pakistan become a modern country that is recognised in the international community. By providing free passports to people, Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto allowed for our citizens to work all over the world. If our people can help build the Middle Eastern countries with their blood and sweat, they can do the same and much more for their own homeland too.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 30^th, 2023.

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