Pakistan People’s Party Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on Wednesday said that it was PPP which could give a befitting reply to the USA, reported 24NewsHD TV channel.
Addressing a public gathering in Abbaspur, Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) in connection with the party’s election campaign, he said it was the PPP government under which the USA had to seek an apology from Pakistan.
Dispelling the impression that PPP had ceased to exist, Bilawal said it was as popular as it was before. “It is strange that political commentators keep repeating the same thing over and over again that PPP is no more popular,” he regretted.
He made it clear that Kashmiris and only Kashmiris would decide their fate. “If you opt for a war with India, we will go for a war,” he said, and added that no dictation would be tolerated on the Kashmir issue.
He called upon people of Kashmir to tell the world through their votes that they would not agree to any sell-out on their land. “The atrocities being committed against Kashmiris by the Indian security forces is simply intolerable,” the PPP chairman said and assured people of the held valley that his party stood with them.
Taunting former prime minister and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Nawaz Sharif for inviting Indian PM Narendra Modi to his granddaughter’s wedding, Bilawal said, “We are not the ones who invite people like Modi to attend our family functions.”
Calling Prime Minister Imran Khan a ‘puppet’, he said when India had revoked Article-370 of its constitution that granted special status to the state of Jammu and Kashmir, he (the puppet) had said in the National Assembly what he could do in such circumstances. “Are you satisfied with the answer of the ‘puppet’?” he asked while addressing the gathering.
He vowed to keep fighting for Kashmiris even if it meant fighting for 1, 000 years.
Hitting out at the economic policies of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) government, the PPP chairman said the entire country was in deep financial crisis due to the ‘selected’ prime minister’s policies.
He said the real face of tabdeeli (change) was poverty and unemployment. “PTI had promised 10 million jobs for the people of Pakistan. But it made millions of youth jobless instead,” he said, and added that similarly building five million homes for the homeless was part of PTI’s manifesto. “But sadly, instead of building new homes those who had already had were deprived of them,” he said, and alleged that the present government provided relief to the rich and ‘persecuted’ the poor.
Bilawal claimed that when PPP was last time in power, it had not left the people at the mercy of economic crisis. “But instead helped the poor women through Benazir Income Support Programme, and increased the government employees’ salaries by 120 per cent. Similarly, 100 per cent increase was made in the pensions of retired employees. We also increased the salaries of Pakistan Army personnel.”
Assuring the people of Kashmir that if came to power, PPP would increase the salaries and pensions of government employees, he asked the gathering, would they prefer the same ‘incompetent’ government in AJK?
Referring to the brand of politics of PML-N, PPP chairman said earlier the party Vice President Maryam Nawaz would insist on ‘Do or Die’ in her struggle against the ‘establishment’. "But now that stress on ‘Do or Die’ has vanished, and she is desperate to strike a ‘deal’ with those very people against whom she had waged a struggle,” he said, and made it clear that PPP would not be striking a deal.
Bilawal vowed to show both PM Imran and Punjab CM Usman Buzdar the door.