Bilawal asks Baloch not to allow others to use them against country

HUB: Pakistan People’s Party Chairperson Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on Saturday claimed that the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-N had hijacked the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor project.

Criticising the ruling party, he said the PML-N is attempting to take undue credit for the CPEC project. "Former president Asif Ali Zardari signed the CPEC project along with the Chinese president in the President House in 2013," Bilawal said while addressing a big public meeting in Hub. Bilawal said the western route of CPEC was ignored to negatively affect Balochistan.

The PPP chairman urged the people of Balochistan not to allow others to use them against the country. “This government did not treat Balochistan any better than a colony,” he said. In an apparent reference to former president Pervez Musharraf, he accused the "dictator for fueling the fire of hatred” in the province. “Your people were also abducted just like ours,” he said. “Justice was not served to you as it was denied to us.” “But we will fight democratically against all the exploitative forces,” Bilawal said.

He claimed the PPP government managed to achieve what no one had done for Balochistan during the past 70 years. “We initiated Aghaz Haqooq-e-Balochistan, we gave autonomy to provinces through the 18th Amendment, and in 2013, Balochistan was the only province to have a surplus budget.” He said the PPP-led government provided resources to Balochistan and the Thar Coal project from the national exchequer and now both projects are providing benefits to the locals.

Referring to the rape and murder of a seven-year-old child in Kasur, Bilawal said it is not the first incident of its kind. "Such incidents happen regularly, and my heart bleeds when I see them happening. He also denounced the murder of two protesters at the hands of the police during demonstrations following the Kasur tragedy. "Why did the Punjab police fire at unarmed citizens?" he said.

Lashing out at the Sharif brothers, Bilawal said 'the nation is wise' and it knows the 'true faces' of the two brothers. "You are lamenting at your disqualification, but why are you asking that from the public, why don't you ask that your own brother." Bilawal said Nawaz has completed his political age and he will not be able to form government ever again, adding that Nawaz was unable to handle both Balochistan and Punjab.