Zardari announces Rs 1b development package for Lyari, says will hold PPP’s flag till young generation takes over
Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Co-Chairman and former president Asif Ali Zardari has challenged political opponents not to write off PPP and vowed that they would fight on as the party is still popular in all the provinces, including Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Kashmir.
Addressing a massive public meeting at Kakri ground in Lyari Sunday evening, Asif Ali Zardari said he was not ready to accept that the PPP was not popular anymore and said their mandates had been stolen in the past as well. He conceded that forces working against the PPP created difficulties for them. He said there was a time when the PPP could not form a government in Sindh during the days of Benazir Bhutto Shaheed but in the next elections, the party formed a government at the Centre and in Sindh.
A 20 feet high stage was prepared while portraits of former prime ministers Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, Benazir Bhutto, PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and Co-Chairman Asif Ali Zardari were displayed in the Kakri ground and its adjacent areas.
The PPP co-chairperson advised the workers not to be disappointed over the election results and told them that the elections were only two and a half years away and they should start preparations for that time.
He said he will hold the PPP flag till Asifa Bhutto takes over, an indication that he was considering to introduce his daughter instead of Bilawal Bhutto Zardari into the scene. He said that the time has come to handover the leadership of the party to the younger generation.
He said the Lyari public meeting was the beginning of his ‘meet the people’ programme and he would be going to other provinces and cities for similar meetings. Zardari said that they have decided that investment from China would not be allowed to derail in anyway and for this purpose he held meetings with political leaders of the country. He told the people of Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa that there would be no harm to their interests with the settlements of people from other provinces as a result of the mega project. He said they would not be allowed to turn into a minority and the 18th Amendment provides a guarantee for this.
Zardari announced a development package of Rs 1 billion for Lyari, BilawalBhuttoEngineeringCollege, low-cost housing scheme and regularisation of contractual employees. He also assured that the water shortage in Lyari would be overcome in three months.
He said he was elected from Lyari as an MNA and his two children were also born there. He said the presence of the massive gathering was a proof that the area is still the citadel of the PPP. He added that Lyari is still the castle of PPP and people of this area have roots in his party.
He said that PPP has always supported Lyariites and resolved their problems on a priority basis. He vowed to develop Lyari significantly. He recalled Benazir’s slogan of ‘Kitne Bhutto Marogay, Har Ghar Say Bhutto Niklega’.
Thousands of PPP leaders, workers and supporters joined public meeting.
Sindh chief minister, parliamentarians and advisers also attended the meeting. Groups of people, including PPP women workers, danced on the tunes of party songs. Jubilant workers and activists raised slogans in the favour of the party.
Earlier Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah while addressing the public meeting said that PPP has arranged several public meetings in Lyari but this gathering is a milestone. He said that people of Lyari are still with PPP. He vowed to restore peace in Lyari and develop it further.