Bilawal’s daydreaming

News Analysis

ISLAMABAD: Bilawal Bhutto Zardari wishes to become prime minister of Pakistan in 2018 without realising that the mere sloganeering and rhetoric will not woo the masses towards the PPP, which has been restricted to Sindh because of bad governance and corruption.

In his tweets, he gives the impression of the launching of a “New PPP”, which, he conveys, will be “progressive” and “liberal”. He wants to win the 2018 election by pursuing secular agenda and that too without showing any intention of getting rid of the baggage, which is bound to weigh him down from flying high.

His statements, his tweets and his actions all prove that he wants the new PPP to be the representative of the left, the liberals and the secularists. He is going far from the constitutional parameters set by Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, and is not keen to follow Islamic provisions of the constitution.

Against the 1973 constitution, authored by ZAB-led National Assembly in 1973, Bilawal has already said that he wants to see a Christian Pakistani to become the chief executive of the country. This is not possible either as per the teachings of Islam or under the 1973 Constitution.

If Bilawal really means to empower the minorities, he could get a minority member from Sindh, whether a Christian or Hindu, elected as the chief minister of the province. It is possible under the 1973 Constitution.

Under Bilawal’s chairmanship, the PPP is presently going through re-organizational process but not even a single PPP activist from minorities has yet been given top position in PPP hierarchy. He could nominate one as co-chairperson of the PPP.

Bilawal takes pride in a recent controversial legislation passed by the Sindh Assembly in the name of “protection of minorities”. The legislation is apparently aimed at checking forced conversions of Hindus to Islam but in actual the law prohibited even by choice acceptance of Islam by any person under the age of 18.

Interestingly, similar draft legislation has been unanimously rejected on Friday (Dec 2) for being un-Islamic and against human rights by the National Assembly’s parliamentary committee on human rights. Those who rejected the draft law included even the PPP legislators. It was pointed out in the meeting that as per the constitution (ZAB’s 1973 Constitution), no law could be made against the teachings of Quran and Sunnah.

Minorities in Pakistan are required to be given their constitutional rights. They should also be treated well as per the teachings of Islam but mere sloganeering or taking actions which are more for show off than anything else will not produce positive results.

Again to build his credentials of being a “progressive” and “liberal” leader, Bilawal recently took serious exception to a notice, issued by an official of Sindh education directorate, barring private schools from taking dance and music classes. After the Sindh chief minister had revoked the said notice, Bilawal in a tweet said, “Dance Sindh, Dance while you can. It’s time to reclaim our culture. #PPP.”

Bilawal is pursuing the agenda of secularists in deviation of what is pledged in the 1973 Constitution of ZAB. Instead of making Pakistan an Islamic welfare state as per the teaching of Quran and Sunnah, he believes that politics of left will deliver him. It never happened in the past, it is not going to happen now.

In his speeches, he talks against corruption and bad governance. In reality, the PPP was voted out in 2013 for its government’s bad governance and massive corruption from 2008-2013. The reality remains that even the latest surveys of independent non-governmental organizations like Pildat show the PPP-led Sindh government as the worst among all provinces and the centre in terms of governance and corruption.

Being chairman of the PPP, he has to get rid of the baggage plaguing the PPP and haunting its future. Those known for corruption — no matter how important they are in the PPP and irrespective of their relationship with the chairman — have to be sidelined if Bilawal really wants revival of the PPP. Otherwise, thinking of becoming prime minister of Pakistan in 2018 would be like daydreaming.