Bilawal pushes for 'big' mandate in G-B

PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari urged the people of Gilgit-Baltistan on Thursday to vote "overwhelmingly" for his party, saying a clear majority would strengthen efforts to defend the region's rights.

The Bhutto scion is on a tour of G-B where PPP and other political parties have stepped up efforts in recent days to mobilise voters for June 7 polls.

Addressing a public rally in Ghizer, Bilawal said the PPP was seeking a "heavy" majority in G-B, not for the party's benefit but for the people, so that together they could fulfill the unfinished vision of his grandfather and mother in the region.

"It is the new generation's responsibility to secure more rights for G-B," he said.

He said President Asif Ali Zardari had played a key role in granting G-B its legislative assembly, identity, governor and chief minister, adding that the next phase of progress now depended on both him and the people of the region.

Bilawal particularly stressed the need for a PPP majority, including all three Ghizer seats, in order to pursue the right of sovereignty promised to the people.

"The people that say the PPP does not deliver on their promises - remind them that we have been in politics for three generations," he stated, adding "And for three generations we have had a record of being true to our word; when we make promises we deliver on them."

Bilawal said 28,000 square kilometres of land in G-B used to belong to the state. He added that, due to the efforts of the people of the region, the PPP, and its assembly members, a law was passed that declared it "your land, common land".

"Now what's left? I want to deliver on this legislation. If I don't get a government, if I don't get all three of these seats in Ghizer; if I don't get the seats in Baltistan, all of Gilgit, all of the Diamer division; if I am stopped from installing my chief minister, then I know that whether it is the PML-N or another party, they will tear up our legislation like a piece of paper. They will not deliver on it and my promise will remain incomplete."

The Bhutto scion compared the PPP with other parties, saying while PPP lawmakers competed to see who could create the most jobs - "whether in government, the private sector, public-private partnerships, abroad, through technical education or skills" - other political parties instead competed "to see how many people they can make unemployed".

"After the PPP government left, no provincial government in G-B has given jobs - they have been stolen," he said.

Bilawal maintained that PPP wanted to grant ownership of arable land to the people of the region.

He also referred to the Sindh People's Housing for Flood-Affected (SPHF) programme, under which two million homes were being constructed for flood victims, with ownership of both the houses and land being transferred to the beneficiaries.