Bilawal makes jibe at ex-govt allies ‘scared of elections’

SUKKUR: Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman and former foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said on Sunday the coalition parties were scared, and wanted to run away from elections, but it was not PPP’s training to back away from any contest.

Addressing the inaugural ceremony of a water filtration plant in Hussainabad area of Hyderabad on Sunday, Bilawal said his party was never afraid of elections. “We have fought elections while carrying dead bodies on our shoulders. (But) if some of our allies are running away from elections, let them run. They are scared; they ran away from local governments elections, they ran away from by-elections, and maybe now they are afraid of general elections too,” he added.

Bilawal said if his party was elected to power in the next general elections, he would regularise Kutchi Abadis [slums] across the country, like in Sindh, and allot slum plots to the residents. He said if bureaucracy and judges could get plots, the poor had also a right to get plots for construction of their houses.

Addressing dwellers of Kutchi Abadis across the country, he said, “This was my maternal grandfather’s promise to public, and my mother’s dream, and I promise you that if I get the chance, I will give land ownership rights to all those living in Kutchi Abadis everywhere in the country.”

He said if the direction of the country’s economy was to be corrected, then money had to be put into the pockets of common people. The poor people and backward classes of the country would have to be given their rights. “Unless purchasing power of people increases, economy will not benefit,” he added.

The PPP chairman said all the provinces were affected by unusual rains last year, but only in Sindh flood victims had been given houses as well as ownership rights of land. “More than two million families have benefited from the project, while the ownership rights have been given to women of the family. We want to take this programme to other provinces of the country,” he pointed out.

Chairman Bilawal said he tried his best to convince the MQMP that they should contest the local bodies election, and not give their space to incompetent people, but they got scared and retreated. Even they could not save their two towns. He said the PTI practises politics of division and hatred. “Just as we wiped out the PTI from Hyderabad, we will wipe it out from the entire country,” he vowed and added that it was his message to the PTI that “Jiyalas are coming”.

“We will get Imran Khan’s security amount confiscated in the same way as it was done in Hyderabad, Malir and Multan,” he added.

The PPP chairman claimed the MQM, when in power, did not work on its own, and blamed the provincial government. He said the MQM leaders should be asked what they had done for Hyderabad.

Bilawal said the PPP would never compromise on supremacy of the Constitution and parliament as well as the rights and freedoms of ordinary citizens to make Pakistan a prosperous and strong federal democratic state.

In his message on the 75th death anniversary of the Father of the Nation, he paid glowing tribute to Quaid-e-Azam, saying that he was a charismatic leader and statesman born in centuries. “Quaid-e-Azam’s democracy-friendly ideology, tolerant thinking and the vision of a modern Islamic welfare state will always remain a beacon of light for the nation,” he added.

On the other hand, the Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PMLN) rejected the allegation that the party was scared of elections. PMLN leader Javed Latif, replying to a question by anchorperson Shahzad Iqbal in Geo News programme ‘Naya Pakistan’, said it had been history of Pakistan Muslim League that it had always backed on-time elections. “It always upheld the Constitution and law, and even sacrificed its governments thrice while pursuing the path of democracy and Constitution.”

In response to Bilawal’s allegation that the coalition partners were running away from elections and they were scared of polls, he said firstly the PMLN had never been a coalition partner of the PPP. “It was a national government which had been formed after ouster of PTI government, and various parties including PMLN and PPP were part of that government.”

He said even at that time, PMLN Quaid Nawaz Sharif and various other party leaders wanted immediate elections. However, due to some reasons, the PMLN, later on, agreed to the formation of a national government and completion of assemblies’ terms.

He said in the current scenario, when it was agreed upon at the Council of Common Interests (CCI) forum that elections would be held after completion of fresh delimitations process, then there was no reason for raising objections to it.

He said if Bilawal succeeds in getting an early election date, the PMLN would be the first party to welcome it and give full credit to the PPP chairman for it. However, he added, the PMLN was seeing polls in February, and making preparations for it accordingly. If the election date was announced for November-December, Nawaz Sharif would return to Pakistan by the next flight.

Meanwhile, MQM-P leader Anis Kaimkhani while reacting to Bilawal Bhutto’s statement said that the world was laughing at Bilawal’s statement about the mayorship of Karachi and Hyderabad. He said the municipal seats were won by the PPP as a result of MQM’s boycott, and rigging would go up in smoke. Since the establishment of the Peoples Party, the citizens of Karachi and Hyderabad have always rejected the Peoples Party, he said, adding that the party that broke the country by not accepting the election results of 1970 should not teach democracy.

On the other hand, Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan’s Senior Deputy Convener Syed Mustafa Kamal said the quota system in Sindh was implemented 50 years ago by then ruler who actually caused a division between Sindhis and Muhajirs. He made these remarks while addressing a workers meeting in Liaquatabad on Sunday.

He said there had been a long struggle to end this quota system which spanned 40 years. He alleged that the situation was worse today because Muhajirs were even not getting a quota of their quota, and people from outside Karachi and Hyderabad were being given admissions and jobs through fake domiciles.

Kamal said the people of Karachi had no water, employment and education due to the biased Sindh government of Pakistan Peoples Party for more than 15 years under a well-thought-out conspiracy.

Later, former federal minister and member of the MQM-P Coordination Committee Aminul Haq said the MQM-P was struggling in a more organised manner than before and it would liberate Sindh, especially Karachi, from the forced occupation of PPP.