PPP’s 50th anniversary Parade Ground gathering expected to give sleepless nights to opponents
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) is all-set to flex its political muscle once again as the party gears up to hold a public gathering in Islamabad on Tuesday (December 5) after a long break. The federal capital has been decorated with party banners and flags to mark the party’s golden jubilee celebrations.
Charged workers of the PPP, famously referred to as jiyalas, could be seen in every nook and corner of the city while fixing party banners and flags at highways, bridges, streets and on various buildings of the federal capital.
Besides, enthusiastic workers of the party could also be seen making rounds of the city in vehicles decorated with party flags. Blaring loudspeakers fixed on top of the vehicles played official party songs to attract people to the PPP’s golden jubilee public gathering. The political activities in the federal capital had entirely changed the look of the city as the atmosphere remained charged due to the unparalleled zeal and passion of the jiyalas.
The week-long 50th anniversary celebration of PPP across the country would conclude on December 5. In this regard two main ceremonies would be held in Karachi and Islamabad.
PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari would cut a cake in Karachi while PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari would address the public gathering at Parade Ground in the federal capital. During his speech, Bilawal is expected to announce the future road map of his party.
The PPP, which was once the major political force in the country, is believed to have lost ground in Sindh province, considered the party’s stronghold. However, the party workers and leaders were quite upbeat to prove political observers and analysts wrong by holding a historic public gathering at the Parade Ground.
Talking to Pakistan Today, the charged party workers said that they were all-set to prove the perception wrong regarding PPP’s falling popularity in Sindh and the rest of the country.
They were of the view that PPP was the party of martyrs due to which the party cannot be sidelined for long. They vowed to make the public gathering a resounding success to put an end to all questions raised on the popularity of the PPP.
A party worker Shahid Abbasi said that every party had to pass through a bad phase, adding that PPP was also passing through a difficult time, but it did not mean that the party was finished as a political force. He said that the party would surprise the nation and the critics in the coming general elections under the leadership of Bilawal.
Another party worker, Bakir Khan, said that Tuesday’s public gathering would prove a nightmare for the political opponents of PPP, as a large number of people belonging to all parts of the country were expected to participate in the public gathering.
He said that PPP had made a special place in the hearts of the people, while adding that Bilawal would surprise opponents in the same way as Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto and Benazir Bhutto, who single-handedly changed the political scene of the country.
PPP leader Senator Farhatullah Babar told Pakistan Today that the PPP’s public gathering on December 5 would be a watershed event in the political history of the country as the party had completed half a century of strong existence.
He said, “It is a unique party for which two successive chairpersons laid down their lives in pursuit of a true and just cause. Bhutto is not merely the name of an individual or a family, but represents all positive political struggle in Pakistan’s history.”
Babar further said that the party was no less than an ideal and philosophy that provided a distinct world view to the nation. That is why the party had survived and thrived despite the assassination of its chairpersons and the lashing, exile and hanging of its countless workers, he added.
He vowed that the detractors of PPP who claimed that the party was out and down would be proved wrong very soon.