By Asim Yasin in The News, Dec 01, 2023
ISLAMABAD: While the Pakistan Peoples Party Parliamentarians (PPPP) President Asif Ali Zardari’s words that ‘Bilawal was not yet trained’ to be the prime minister are still reverberating, in a sudden volte-face on Thursday, he rallied support for Bilawal to install him as the country’s youngest prime minister.
“We have to make Bilawal Bhutto Zardari the leader of today and tomorrow,” he said while addressing a public meeting organized on the party’s 56th foundation day in Quetta.
Zardari said as the country’s youngest foreign minister, Bilawal had brought Pakistan’s name into the international limelight. “Earlier, some people knew him because of his mother, some because of his maternal grandfather and some knew him from my reference. But now, Alhamdulillah, he has a distinct identity of his own. Now we have to support him in every season and in every era,” he added.
The former president said Balochistan was the heart of Pakistan, and it was very important to win it. Zardari reaffirmed his resolve to make Pakistan a great country by bringing the nation together. “If Pakistan is to become an exporting country, Balochistan has to be supplied with water. Pakistan is rich in all virtues; it’s not weak. A nation does not rise by itself, it is led and raised by its leaders,” he emphasized.
Zardari said when he was in jail, people often asked him what his activities were. “I would tell them that I dream for Pakistan,” he added. He said individuals sitting in Islamabad did not see Balochistan as the country’s heart but the PPP saw (without doubt) that it was the country’s heart.
Addressing the people of Balochistan, he said, “The PPP wants to make you the owner of your land. Whatever is in Balochistan is yours. Everything is yours, be it gas, petrol or any other mineral. I also have to deliver water to Balochistan. We have always served Balochistan.”
Responding to the chants of “Wazeer-i-Azam, Bilawal” by the PPP workers, Zardari proclaimed, “Zab n-e-Khalq Ko Naqq ra-e-Khud Samjho” (voice of the people is the voice of God), adding “Inshallah, that time will come, soon”.
Meanwhile, PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Thursday said his party will give a surprise in the Feb 8 general elections, as the incoming prime minister as well as chief ministers of all the provinces would be PPP jiyalas. “Youths should come forward and bury the politics of division, hate, and revenge, as Pakistan needs a new way of approach and politics,” he said while addressing the rally.
Bilawal said sometimes the people of PMLN and sometimes PTI people raised slogans to abolish the 18th Amendment, adding by doing so they actually wanted to rob the resources of Sindh, Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab and hand them over to the bureaucrats of Islamabad. “We will not allow this plot to succeed,” he warned.
He said the PMLN had failed to manage the economy despite enjoying the treasury portfolio in the former PDM government. “The PMLN has now become Mehngai League for the people. They have failed (and) people know that they are political showmen,” he added. He said Quaid-e-Awam Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto took politics out of the drawing room and brought it to the masses. “Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto buried the politics of hatred, division and revenge, and continued to do politics under the slogan ‘democracy is our revenge’,” he said, adding that Bibi used to say that she had to serve her poor people. “Shaheed Bibi also set an example showing how the country is run by uniting the entire nation,” he recalled.
Bilawal said the PPP did not consider any party or politician as its rival, but considered inflation, unemployment and poverty as its enemy. Bilawal said his father Asif Ali Zardari also created a new history by burying the politics of hatred, ego, division and revenge after becoming the president. “Zardari did not take revenge against any of them, who attempted to cut his tongue (during imprisonment) or imprisoned him for 12 years. “Zardari showed restraint over his media trial. Sometimes in Memogate, someone would go to the court wearing a black coat and someone would appear as the (so-called) representative of the youth, but he (didn’t mess with them, instead) united the whole country and served the people,” he added.
The PPP chairman said the solution to all the problems facing the country lay in following the ideology of Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and manifesto of Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto. Bilawal said he was not a seasonal democrat, adding, “Whether in government or in opposition, we protect the Constitution, as it includes the blood and sweat of Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto and their workers.”
https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/1133999-zardari-rallies-support-for-bilawal-as-next-pm
