• Says PPP is being targeted as it can fight terrorism, fix missing persons’ issue
• Urges people to embrace peaceful means
• Blames ‘politicians of Lahore’ for inflation, unemployment, poverty

KHUZDAR: PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari on Thursday called on the people of Balochistan to embrace peaceful means to address the province’s challenges, emphasising that violence offered no solutions.

Speaking at a public meeting in connection with the party’s election campaign in Khuzdar on Thursday, Mr Bhutto-Zardari also boasted of his Baloch lineage. “Baloch blood runs in my veins,” he said, referring to the origin of his father, former President Asif Ali Zardari.

He also stressed that as the son of Benazir Bhutto, “I can feel the pain of martyrs’ heirs”.

He insisted that the PPP was the only party that could tackle both internal and external challenges facing the country.

However, he voiced concerns that certain forces were attempting to undermine the PPP and did not want it to assume power “because they know Bilawal is aware of the issues and pains of Balochistan. And if he is elected prime minister, he will not only fight against terrorists but will also resolve the missing persons issue,” he said.

“They know that if Bilawal becomes the prime minister and a jiyala becomes a chief minister in Balochistan, all their conspiracies will fail,” he stressed.

PPP Balochistan President Cha­­n­gez Jamali and other party leaders like Nawab Sanaullah Zehri, Nawabzada Naimat- ullah Zehri, and Agha Shakeel Ahmed Dur­rani also spoke on the occasion.

Highlighting his party’s past contributions, Mr Bhutto-Zardari recalled Asif Zardari’s efforts through initiatives like the China-Pakistan Economic Corri­dor (CPEC), claiming that Nawaz Sharif later changed the direction of the project under his tenure that derailed Balochis­tan’s from the path to prosperity.

Praising the party’s “fearless and unbiased” politics, he said, “We do not bargain on the rights of the people.”

He pointed out that if the PPP-led initiatives like the 18th Amendment, NFC Award and the Aghaz-i-Haqooq-i-Balochis­tan Programme had been fully implemented, all conspiracies being hatched in and around Balochistan would have ended.

He said that the real problems of the people of Balochistan are unemployment, poverty and inflation and claimed that the PPP was the only party that could address these issues.

Pointing out that the PPP was the target of terrorist attacks, he said there had been frequent attacks on the party’s ticket holders in the last few days, including those targeting party leaders Asghar Rind and Zahoor Buledi.

“Our party’s former provincial president, Ali Madad Jattak, was attacked in Quetta, and Agha Shakeel Durrani was attacked in Khuzdar. They (terrorists) thou­ght that I and the PPP would be scared, but they are mistaken,” he said.

Referring to the challenges facing the country, the PPP chairman said the people were bearing the burden of the deteriorating economic situation, the issue of rising terrorism, uncontrolled inflation, unemployment and poverty only because of the “politicians of Lahore”.

“I am doing politics with a new thinking. Our 10-point manifesto is my agreement with the people,” he said, reiterating that he would abolish 17 ministries of the Centre and transfer Rs300 billion spent annually on these departments to the welfare projects of the people.

Mr Bhutto-Zardari also appealed to the people of Balochistan to maintain their distance from the politics of terrorism.

“Don’t allow anyone else to do injustice to our children and women. Quaid-i-Azam created this country and established Pakistan without firing a single bullet,” he stressed.

He also vowed to solve the issue of missing persons. “I will explain to them (powers that be) that a federation cannot run like this. I am sad that the way the caretaker government engaged the protesters in Islamabad was undemocratic.”

He said that not all problems can be solved at gunpoint. He said that some forces conspire so that the people of Pakistan fight among themselves.

Saleem Shahid in Quetta also contributed to this report

Published in Dawn, February 2nd, 2024

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