16-month rule proved: Country can’t be run from London, says Bilawal

KARACHI/LAHORE: Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said on Wednesday the performance of the past 16-month [Pakistan Democratic Movement] government proved that the country could not be run from London.

He sarcastically pointed out Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz supremo Nawaz Sharif’s unannounced role in the outgoing coalition government, in which he himself was the foreign minister and his party was a major coalition partner.

Bilawal was addressing a gathering of PPP activists here outside the Bilawal House to mark the October 18, 2007, Karsaz bomb blast anniversary, in which a number of party workers escorting Benazir Bhutto’s return to the country from exile were killed.

Without naming PMLN supremo Nawaz Sharif, the PPP chairman alleged that the general election was being delayed to allow a person return to the country. The delay in polls doesn’t mean that the vote was being honoured, he said. Bilawal hoped that there would be a big reception (upon the return of Nawaz Sharif) “with support from the state”.

“We can swallow the bitter pill [of holding elections] in more than 90 days only when the election commission announces the date for the polls,” he said. Claiming that his party was always ready for elections, the PPP chairman said national problems could be solved by showing unity as the politics based on hatred and abuse had to be abandoned.

He said new thought and leadership were required for present-day Pakistan. Bilawal said unity had to be maintained to solve the national problems. He said the country should be run in accordance with the philosophy of PPP founder Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. He said the politics based on verbal abuse and blame-game had to be abandoned keeping in view the divided state of Pakistani society and historical crises. He said parliamentary politics should again be given a chance to run the affairs of the country.

The PPP chairman told the audience that timely conduct of the general election could only solve these problems. He demanded the country should be run in accordance with the law of the land and Constitution.

Bilawal said those who violated the Constitution and attacked national security institutions should be punished.

The event also expressed solidarity with the oppressed Palestinians in Gaza facing Israeli aggression for the past several days. PPP leaders, including Bilawal, wore Palestine bandanas to show unity with the people of Gaza.

The PPP chairman called upon Caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar to raise voice against the Israeli attacks in Gaza, especially the latest attack on a hospital in which nearly 500 people were killed.

He urged the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to immediately issue the election schedule. He said the PPP was going to launch a countrywide public contact campaign with the sole demand that the election schedule should be announced by the ECP.

He expressed optimism that the election authorities would accept the people’s demand in this regard. He hoped that former allies of his party would also agree to the demand.

Separately, PPP Central Punjab General Secretary Syed Hassan Murtaza said the next government would be formed by the Pakistan Peoples Party. He was addressing a public gathering organised by the PPP Lahore chapter to pay homage to the martyrs of Karsaz. The gathering was also addressed by PPP Lahore President Aslam Gill. Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, the PPP chairman, also addressed through video link from Karachi.