One contesting polls to get out of jail, the other to avoid it: Bilawal

KOHAT: Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said on Sunday that one of the political opponents of his party was contesting elections to get out of prison and the other was in the field to save himself from going to jail.

Without naming the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PMLN) leaders, he said PPP’s only purpose to contest the elections was to serve the people, while its counterparts were doing so to either get out of prison or to avoid it.

Addressing the PPP workers convention here, Bilawal said: “We are contesting the elections to ensure that benefits are reaped by farmers and labourers through Benazir Kissan and Mazdoor cards, as well as the Youth Card for our youngsters.”

Bilawal also called for correcting the constitutional and legal mistakes by exposing those whose collaboration led to the ‘judicial murder’ of the first elected prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto (ZAB).

“Twelve years ago, President Asif Ali Zardari had sent a reference to the Supreme Court of Pakistan to review the case of judicial murder of Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. We hope Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa would use this opportunity to rectify the mistake of its own institution, which was the very crime scene in this case,” he said.

Bilawal sought the correction of the constitutional and legal mistakes. “A decision alone would not be enough as we would need to tell the nation who the facilitators were in this murder, from General Zia to the judges, lawyers and politicians. They are criminals. We hope that justice would be provided not only legally but keeping in mind the historical context, and that the entire world would get to know why a leader of Muslim Ummah was sent to the gallows. If the court addresses this issue itself, it would be a source of renewed hope for the people of Pakistan, as they too can hope to get justice for themselves,” he added.

The PPP chairman said he was grateful to the office-bearers, organisations, candidates and Jiyalas of the PPP for making the series of the party conventions a resounding success.

Bilawal said the PPP was told not to hold conventions in KP for security concerns. “We were told that the decision for the [next] CM of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa has already been made elsewhere. Our response to this was that Jiyalas of the party are not to be deterred by such threats as they exhibit sheer courage and determination, and we will go to them as they are still ready to fight the mission of Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto.”

He said the PPP Jiyalas had proved that they were always ready for elections, by choosing to come out at a time when the election campaign had not even begun properly and the election schedule was awaited.

Bilawal said the PPP had always represented the downtrodden and had been their voice for long.

Agencies add: Senior PMLN leader Mian Javed Latif rejected Bilawal Bhutto Zardari’s allegations against the party as non-serious and unimportant. Addressing a ceremony in his hometown Sheikhupura on Sunday, he said: “We do not take assertions made by Bilawal seriously.

“Why we should take his statements seriously when even his father [Asif Ali Zardari] did not do so,” he said while referring to a TV interview, in which the former president had said his son was still inexperienced.

“We will reply when Zardari speaks up,” Javed Latif told the gathering, adding that Zardari was used to refute Bilawal regularly.

He also advised the PPP to contest elections on the basis of its performance, saying it had destroyed Sindh during the last 15 years. He said the PMLN had neither formed any alliance nor would go for seat adjustments with any other party in Punjab.

Anyone creating doubts about the general election was not sincere with Pakistan. He said every party deserved a level playing field, but not those who attacked the sensitive installations.

Meanwhile, PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has said protection and promotion of human rights is among the top priorities of his party and the same will manifest in the party’s manifesto for the upcoming general election.

In his message on the International Human Rights Day observed on Sunday, he said Zulfikar Ali Bhutto ensured protection of human rights through constitutional means as the unanimous Constitution he gifted to the nation prescribed equal rights to everyone together with giving freedom to every citizen whether Muslim or non-Muslim.

He said the PPP government in Sindh had passed a comprehensive human rights policy to ensure that every segment of the provincial government played its role in promoting and protecting the human rights of all citizens.

He pledged that the PPP would continue its struggle for human rights as per the vision of founders Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and Benazir Bhutto. “We have established the Human Rights Cell of the party to work for human rights in the country,” he added.