Bilawal urges system reset through democratic unity

PPP chief advises federal authorities to end confrontation

KARACHI:

PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has again advised the PML-N-led federal government to adopt reconciliation rather than engaging in confrontation with the opposition, emphasising the need for the government to also take its coalition partners into confidence on key issues.

Bilawal, whose party supports the ruling coalition without becoming part of the government at the Centre, expressed these views on Tuesday while addressing a function organized at the completion of one million housing units for people affected by the 2021 floods in Sindh.

According to the PPP chief, people do not expect their governments to divide the nation and pit people against each other. "People expect their government to work to make their lives easier," he said.

The federal government has been at odds not only with the opposition including Imran Khan's PTI—whose Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) government was suspended after the imposition of emergency and governor's rule in K-P last month—but also with Maulana Fazlur Rehman's JUI-F.

After Fazl's scathing criticism of the federal government and the powers that be following the K-P emergency, a number of federal ministers attacked the JUI-F chief as government authorities started issuing notices to Fazl-linked businesses and people for alleged rule violations.

Speaking at the groundbreaking ceremony of a hospital in Larkana earlier on November 7, Bilawal urged the federal government and political parties to set aside their differences and engage all political, social and provincial stakeholders to tackle the economic crisis.

The PPP chief then warned that the fallout from the Iran war was placing an unprecedented burden on ordinary Pakistanis, saying that the economic consequences of the conflict were being felt across the world, from America to Larkana.

He described the situation as a major test for governments, stressing that public welfare must take precedence over political confrontation. He urged the federal government to engage stakeholders rather than continue fighting political opponents.

"If we remain engaged in fighting one another, with Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf [PTI], with Maulana [Fazlur Rehman], with terrorists, with India and Afghanistan, then we will not be able to alleviate the suffering of the Pakistani people," Bilawal said.

The PPP chief maintained that political differences must take a back seat to efforts to address public hardships, adding that governments would be judged by their ability to support citizens through the economic difficulties.

In his Tuesday address, Bilawal also obliquely hit out at both Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi and the PML-N, saying that there was indeed a need to "reset" the system, but by allowing the country to be run by people "instead of traders and businessmen" and through unity.

Mohsin Naqvi on July 31 claimed that the country's systems needed a "reset" through the creation of new provinces. The Sindh Assembly, where the PPP is in majority, later passed a resolution against any possible division of Sindh.

Naqvi and some other ministers, however, have continually advocated for the creation of new administrative units with an alleged proposal to divide Sindh into two provinces.

Bilawal reiterated that Pakistan, along with the rest of the world, was facing an economic crisis and that the country's politics did indeed need to be reset to deal with it.

"[However, for this reset] all political parties should work together instead of fighting one another. The people no longer wanted to hear calls for confrontation and do not want the country's system turned upside down at the wishes of business groups in Islamabad or Lahore."

He urged the prime minister to take his coalition partners into confidence first and engage with the opposition through dialogue rather than opening new fronts of confrontation. "Public relief would remain impossible unless the government and opposition worked together," he added.

The PPP chief also commended Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah for the successful completion of the housing project, urging him to have the project audited by an international firm to show their critics that it has been executed in a completely transparent manner.