KARACHI, Oct 18 (NNI): Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on Wednesday asserted that the general elections in Pakistan were halted for ‘one person’s return’ – in an apparent reference to PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif.
“The delay in general elections is not vote ki izzat (respect of vote) but vote ki beizzati (disrespect of vote),” the PPP Chairman said while addressing a public gathering related to the 16th anniversary of Karsaz tragedy in Karachi.
Bilawal Bhutto noted that the 16-month tenure of coalition government taught that Pakistan cannot be run from London. “Today, the country’s Constitution, election, and democracy were halted due to one person’s return,” he said.
Without naming anyone, the former foreign minister said: “We hope that his return to the country would be big, and also that ECP [Election Commission of Pakistan] would soon announce the election schedule.”
He expressed the urgent need for all political parties to support the demand for the immediate announcement of election schedule by election commission, saying that Pakistan can be brought back on the path of progress only via elections.
Bilawal Bhutto also said that he wants to end the politics of divide and abuse, adding that if politicians keep fighting amongst themselves, the country will not progress.
“We have to leave politics of abuses and divide behind. We need new leadership, which is not stuck in the past but thinks about the future. We don’t want 90s’ Pakistan or 2017’s Pakistan. We want today’s Pakistan,” he added.
The PPP chairman also announced that his party was kick-starting their mass contact campaign, which will demand the ECP issue election’s date. “Let the people exercise their right to vote; they will have to accept the demand of the people,” Bilawal added.
Speaking of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), he said that former president Asif Ali Zardari laid the foundation of the mega project.
“He was criticised for visiting China each month. The same people who were criticising were now taking credit for CPEC,” he added.
Bilawal promised that, if elected, his party would initiate another economic corridor to create job opportunities. He stressed Pakistan’s vulnerability to climate change and the necessity to improve the country’s infrastructure through investment.
Moreover, Bilawal said that they don’t want Pakistan of the 1990s and 2017s. He added that leaving the matter of whoever is at fault in the past, elections should be held and people should get a chance to choose their representatives.
He said that until today, PPP is leading in the service of poor people as it always gave benefits to lower classes whenever it comes into power.
PPP Chairman said his party was the only hope for farmers and youth due to its progressive ideology and projects.
He said 16 years have passed since the tragedy on October 18 when cowardly terrorists attacked in the dark of night and martyred his mother and former premier Benazir Bhutto who had come to bring freedom to her people here in Pakistan.
Bilawal said PPP workers always sacrificed for the sake of ideology and rejected terrorism.
Talking about the Israeli oppression of Palestine, Bilawal said they have also gathered here today to express solidarity with the Palestinian brothers and stand with them in difficult times.
Benazir Shaheed was the first Prime Minister who visited Palestine, he said adding that as long as there are people of Pakistan, Palestinians are not alone.
He said Zia-ul-Haq promised Yasir Arafat not to hang Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, but he broke his promise.
He demanded the caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar to raise a voice for Palestine. NNI
