MULTAN: Pledging to address the grievances of the people of south Punjab, Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairperson Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on Friday said his party will establish a new south Punjab province to give people their due share.
Speaking to a large gathering in Multan, a major southern city of Punjab, Bilawal said the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) had long denied the southern Punjab of its due share; however, the PPP, after coming into power, will improve the conditions in the region.
Pointing out Punjab Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif for being indifferent to the southern part of the province, the PPP chairperson said Shehbaz will be held responsible for all of his deeds.
“Shehbaz Sharif, you will have to pay for your corruption, you will be held accountable for the martyrs of Model Town; you will be held accountable for Multan Metro project; and you will be held accountable for Hudaibiya Paper Mills,” he said.
Bilawal alleged that the budget for flora in Lahore was more than the whole budget of southern Punjab.
He further criticised PML-N, saying that the parliament was weakened due to the politics of Nawaz and his party.
Taking a jibe at PML-N President Nawaz Sharif for his “I am ideology” comment, Bilawal said what ideology does Nawaz follow? “Is this the ideology that he swore to defend when he was at General Ziaul Haq’s grave?”
‘This will be your last election’
Turning his criticism towards Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf chief Imran Khan, Bilawal termed him a “soldier of Maulana Samiul Haq”.
Imran should learn the etiquettes of politics, as the language used by PTI can only be “matched by those who did a sit-in at Faizabad”, he said.
Bilawal took a jibe at the PTI chief, saying Imran’s politics revolves around bringing back stolen money to the country but he is surrounded by those who keep their funds abroad. “Imran Khan, this will be my first election and it will be your last.”
Calling out PML-N and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) for their bourgeoisie politics, the PPP chairperson said these parties have made conditions worse for the farmers of the country and added that the PPP will not let Nawaz and Imran ruin the agriculture sector of the country.
The people are getting poorer while power is concentrated in the hands of few, Bilawal remarked.
Reiterating PPP’s support to the farmers, he said, “The PPP will introduce cooperative farming in the country, as it has always supported the community through its policies.”
Praising the people of Multan, Bilawal said his party can always count on the city for support.
Addressing the participants before Bilawal, Co-Chairman Asif Ali Zardari said that it was due to Nawaz’s policies that Musharraf came to power and it is due to his policies that there is a clash with the establishment.
“There is a limit to everything, Nawaz reached the limit and hence fell,” said Zardari.
Earlier in the day, Bilawal and Zardari reached the rally venue to address party supporters and workers in another show of PPP’s political strength.
Khawaja Rizwan Alam, the party’s senior vice-president for south Punjab, had said that as many as 80,000 chairs had been set up for the party workers at the Qasim Bagh Stadium, and the party was expecting 150,000 people to attend the gathering.
The rally organisers had claimed that the big stage could accommodate at least 200 leaders.
