Aseefa to make political debut in PDM’s Multan rally

Ag Agencies

MULTAN: Aseefa Bhutto Zardari, former prime minister Benazir Bhutto and former president Asif Ali Zardari’s youngest child, will mark her first foray into the political arena when she addresses the Pakistan Democratic Movement’s (PDM) rally planned in Multan tomorrow (Sunday).

This was announced by former prime minister Yousuf Raza Gillani on Friday while talking to reporters. The news of her participation in the rally comes a day after her brother, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, announced that he had tested positive for the coronavirus.

Gillani and his sons have been overseeing preparations for the anti-government gathering which also coincides with PPP’s 53rd foundation day. The PDM has vowed the rally will take place despite Multan authorities’ refusal to allow it over fears of coronavirus spreading.

The former prime minister said the government was “making the situation worse by trying to stop the public gathering, asserting that the rally will definitely take place”. Bilawal, too, said “no force” could stop his party from marking its foundation day at the November 30 rally in Multan.

However, the Punjab government had taken several PPP workers into custody on Wednesday, among them Gillani’s son, Ali Musa Gillani for violating bans on political gatherings. Musa was released on bail the next day. “Fascist regime continues to arrest democratic activists in Multan,” Bilawal said in a tweet. “These puppets are scared of Jiyalas.”

Bilawal was quote tweeting Syed Kasim Gillani, another son Yousuf Raza Gillani, who shared a video of PPP workers “being taken” away in “a police van”.

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Vice President Maryam Nawaz has also confirmed her attendance in the rally, Geo News reported. “We are ready with Plan A, B and C. We have identified 12 spots in the city. If the administration does not let us reach Jalsa Gah, Qila Kohna Qasim Bagh, we will hold the public meeting at either of these 12 spots,” Kasim Gillani told reporters on Friday.

The PDM has been pilloried by government representatives, who have repeatedly urged the opposition to shelve the rallies, which typically draw thousands of people in arrangements where coronavirus safety measures are poorly enforced.

On Friday, information minister Shibli Faraz termed the opposition’s behaviour “irresponsible” for insisting on holding their political gatherings despite the second wave of the coronavirus pandemic in full swing.He urged the opposition to “stop playing with the lives of the masses for personal gains”. He then said the people “have rejected the opposition parties and their small rallies were proof of this”. Faraz also said the 11-party alliance has “neither the same destination, nor the same thinking”. “Passengers from opposite directions do not reach the destination,” he remarked. PML-N’s Ahsan Iqbal insisted on Geo News’ Naya Pakistan programme that the opposition’s rallies have a “0.0001 per cent contribution to the spread of the virus” and instead blamed the government for failing to enforce safety guidelines in buses, trains and markets — which he said were responsible for the spread. He also mentioned “as recently as four days ago”, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) had held large election campaign rallies in Gilgit-Baltistan, “but only seem to remember the coronavirus when the opposition is holding rallies”.