Bilawal seeks votes for Kashmir cause

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari questioned the month-long absence of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif from the country. 

“If Pakistan can survive for a month without a prime minister, then what was the need for this position,” he questioned while addressing a rally in Azad Kashmir on Tuesday, TV channels reported. 

He said the incumbent rulers of Pakistan were like monarchs. “I also want to say that stay united, if you do not unite, your opponents will be stronger,” he said, adding that the Kashmir election was actually a referendum against those who preferred personal and business interest to the Kashmir cause. He warned if the PML-N won the Kashmir election by force, threats and rigging, it would be assumed that Kashmiris supported anti-Kashmir and Modi-friendly policies.

“If the masses want Benazir’s Pakistan, support me,” he said, adding that martyrs and ideologists never died. He said the PPP was still a force to be reckoned with, but people were doing negative propaganda. He said every aspect of Shaheed Benazir Bhutto was unique. Her politics was for the poor. She became the chairperson of the largest political party of the country and became the symbol of struggle against dictatorship. She was the first Muslim woman prime minister of Pakistan and the Muslim world and shut the mouths of those who said that a woman could not be the prime minister, he added. 

Meanwhile, Bilawal convened a consultation meeting of the party on June 23 to review the political situation of the country and the deadlock on the Panama Leaks. The meeting will take place at the Zardari House in Lahore. The meeting participants will exchange views on adopting a joint strategy with other opposition parties on the Panama Leaks probe. 

Khursheed Shah and Aitzaz Ahsan will brief the meeting on talks with the government. Different options on launching a movement against the government after the holy month of Ramazan will also come under consideration.