GILGIT: Pakistan Peoples Party chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari has insisted that the people of Gilgit-Baltistan will overwhelmingly vote against the candidates of what he said the puppet Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf in the Nov 15 elections.

He made the statement while addressing a corner meeting in Gahkoch area of Ghizar district on Saturday.Central PPP leader Qamar Zaman Kaira, Senator Karim Khawaja, Pir Syed Jalal Shah, Amjad Hussain Advocate and Dr Aleem Arshad were also present.

Bilawal Bhutto paid rich tributes to Shaheed Lalak Jan, the recipient of Nishan-i-Haider, and 31 other brave soldiers who sacrificed their lives for the nation.

He said PPP would provide the people of GB their own province, right to rule and property and right to choose the prime minister of Pakistan as the party had included these demands in its manifesto in the 2018 general elections in Pakistan.

He claimed that the people dealing with the national security and the PPP were on the same page. He said the cabinet of Imran Khan’s government had rejected the demand of a separate province for GB and filed a petition in the Supreme Court. He demanded withdrawal of the petition.

He declared that Imran Khan-led government’s slogan of change was in fact destruction of Pakistan.

“Today people from every section of the society are protesting against Imran Khan and his policies as his government has brought poverty, hunger, price hike and unemployment to Pakistan,” he said.

“The PPP always gave subsidies to the poor whereas Imran Khan introduced amnesty for the rich. Now Imran Khan wants to hand over GB’s tourism sector to his friends but we will not him do so,” he said.

The PPP chairman asked the people of GB to come out in numbers on Nov 15 to decide their future.

PM VISIT: Prime Minister Imran Khan is expected to arrive in Gilgit-Baltistan on a two-day visit on Sunday (today) to join the region’s Independence Day celebrations in Gilgit on Nov 1.

According to the sources, the premier is expected to announce elevating the status of GB to a province.

Meanwhile, PPP Senator Taj Haider, the in-charge of the party’s Central Election Cell, through a letter to the GB chief election commissioner, has requested him to take notice of the prime minister’s visit to GB ahead of the GB elections.

The letter said election cell had received complaints from its contesting candidates that Imran Khan accompanied by several cabinet members was scheduled to participate in a ceremony to be attended by the GB governor and the caretaker chief minister, which was in violation of the election code of conduct.

Published in Dawn, November 1st, 2020