Bilawal blames PMLN for price hike

DIR: Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari Tuesday said the long-running inflation had been hitting the masses hard but those sitting in Islamabad hardly felt the sufferings of people.

Addressing a rally at the Dir Stadium, he took a dig at the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PMLN) for the current price-hike and again called it the “Mehangai League.” Bilawal shifted all the responsibility for the previous PDM government’s inflationary policies on the PML-N though the PPP was also its part.

“You saw the Mehangai League era that has given nothing to people except inflation,” he told the crowd amidst pro-Bilawal slogans. “The lion turned out to be a cat,” he jeered.

Bilawal assailed Nawaz Sharif without naming him and said he did not understand what the old age politicians were up to.

The PPP leader said the old generation politicians turn political competition into personal enmity. “Political polarisation is not good for the country,” he said, adding his party had no issue with any political party but those who were creating problems for the nation would be an issue for him.

Bilawal stated that the PPP, if voted to power, would introduce Benazir (BB) Mazdoor Card for the working class. He said his government would double salaries and create new jobs with the help of the private sector.

The PPP chairman took an exception to reports about the rollback of the 18th Amendment and said if returned to power, his government would strengthen it and ensure its full implementation. He said the politics of hatred had divided the nation into groups that was not a good omen for the country. The politics of division must be ended, he added.

Without naming the PMLN supremo, he said the politics of Lahore were neither to play nor let others play. The PPP leader said the senior politicians were the issue as they did not want youngsters to come forward. “We had formed an alliance to steer the country out of crisis, it did well in the start but its end was not good,” he added.

Bilawal said the situation was becoming worse with each passing day. “I am now disappointed, the youth are now disappointed,” he said, adding that now he would only focus on elections.

Criticising the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf chairman Imran Khan, he said that he had destroyed the country and introduced the politics of hatred, disrespect and abuses. “Khan is in jail, I don’t like someone to be in jail as it is not a good omen,” Bilawal said, adding it did not look like he would have any role in politics in Pakistan anymore.

The PPP chairman asked the people of Dir to support his party in the next general elections. He said the PPP government would maintain the tax-free zone of Malakand and it was his promise with the people of this region. He said that he would struggle for the people’s rights with the public support. Bilawal said the PPP always represented rural and marginalised areas and the neglected class of the society. He announced the introduction of ‘Sindh Card’ in the entire country that would benefit the poor segment of society. The PPP leader said PMLN and PTI never cared for the poor but they represented the elite class. “The Sindh Card is for the poor peasant and not for the landlords,” he added.