Bilawal Bhutto eyes premiership
Liaquat Ali
Islamabad: Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) this week unveiled a 10-point agenda the party would implement if it won the upcoming general elections, with its Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari presenting himself before the party as the candidate for the premiership.
Bilawal made these announcements, while addressing tens of thousands of party workers and supporters from across the country on the 16th death anniversary of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto at the Bhutto family mausoleum in Garhi Khuda Bux.
Bilawal nominated himself before his party for the position of the prime minister, seeking their nod as he formally launched the party’s election campaign for February 8, 2024 vote. He read out top-10 goals of the PPP which would be implemented if the party formed the next federal government.
Stating that the future belonged to the people and the PPP, Bilawal asserted that those objectives, which he termed a “revolutionary election manifesto”, would overcome inflation, poverty and unemployment besides paving the way for the development.
He also mocked the political rivals, both Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), saying that the former did politics using shoulders of the establishment while the latter is repeating the same history at present.
“Leaders of other political parties stick to the old ways of politics [of division, hate and revenge]. They have become the parties and politicians of the past,” he added. “However, he continued to roaring cheers from the crowd: “The future belongs to the people and to the PPP.”
Bilawal reiterated that the PPP joined forces with the PML-N to oust former Prime Minister Imran Khan and his party from power and restore democracy; confront terrorism and inflation; and to end the country’s diplomatic isolation.
But in the same breath, he blamed the PML-N leadership for not showing interest in dealing with those challenges after forming a coalition government. “This is why we decided that our paths are now different,” the PPP chairman said.
“The PPP will contest the elections on its own against the groupings which have been formed against the PPP,” he continued. “There is a need for seriousness in politics, in democracy and in the state and its system,” he suggested. “We will have to give up infighting among ourselves [political parties].”
But he deplored that the leaders of the other two mainstream parties – a reference to Nawaz Sharif and Khan – still remained occupied with a fight for their personal survival. “One is fighting election to come out of jail and the other is fighting to prevent himself from going to jail.”
He accused both main rival parties of employing “archaic tools of political hatred and division” to garner electoral support. “What Pakistan and its people have to do if one or other is in the jail. People only want to see an end to the inflation, poverty and unemployment,” he said.
Elaborating on the top-10 manifesto items, Bilawal promised that doubling the salaries of the working class in the next five years would be the top priority. The second important challenge, he added, would be tackling the electricity woes – load-shedding and the inflated electricity bills.
He repeated that they the party had planned to surmount the energy-related challenge by establishing green energy parks across the country and by providing free solar-powered electricity up to 300 units to targeted consumers.
His other priorities for a PPP government at the Centre include education, health, building 2 million homes for flood affected people, launching farmers, labours and youth cards, and expanding the scope of the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP).
A PPP government would establish youth centres across the country, equipped with libraries, digital libraries, Wi-Fi and sports facilities. “These centres will also offer space for cultural activities and for dance and music in addition to providing vocational training and career counselling services,” he said.
Bilawal asked the masses from all the provinces to lend their electoral support to the PPP in the upcoming elections to materialise those goals. He also asked the PPP workers to rise above internal differences and keep the electoral victory in sight.
He also spoke to the people of Karachi, thanking them for electing the PPP candidate as their mayor. He asked them to support the PPP in the next elections. He also addressed the people of Lahore, saying under a conspiracy, the PPP was kept on the fringes of politics in the Punjab capital.
“Attempts were made to keep the PPP out of Punjab but today the whole world is watching what political drama is being played out in that province,” he said. He pledged to bridge the chasm which had distanced Lahore from the PPP.
“Is it written in the fate of Lahore that the same person [Nawaz Sharif] will be imposed upon the people for the fourth time. Or is it their fate that a player [Imran Khan] will keep playing with them,” the PPP chairman posed a question.
