MULTAN: Pakistan Peop­les Party chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari deplored that religion was being used to play politics in the country and said that the PPP did not believe in linking religion with politics.

“When a politician says that Islam is in danger, I like to quote Zulfikar Ali Bhutto who said that Islam could not be in danger in a country where 90 per cent of the population is Muslim,” he said, while addressing a public gathering at Qila Kohna Qasim Bagh Stadium in Multan on Friday. The PPP chairperson regretted that extremism and sectarianism were being promoted in the country.

Lashing out at the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) chief, Mr Bhutto-Zardari said that Imran Khan was an ideological soldier of Maulana Samiul Haq. Mr Khan talked about the importance of politics of principles, but he should learn the principles of politics, as politics too had principles, he said.

It was unfortunate that even though Mr Khan spoke highly of the country’s youth, he had no vision for their uplift, the PPP leader said, adding: “Employment and education are two major concerns of the youth which comprises 60pc of the country’s population...after coming to power we will give the youth equal opportunities of employment and education.”

He took a jibe at the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz chief, saying that Nawaz Sharif claimed that his politics was grounded in ideology, but he probably did not know what the word ideology meant. The PPP leader said that Mr Sharif’s ideology had disgraced parliament by turning the parliament house into a camp office of the Ittefaq Foundry. “Parliament is weak and the masses are suffering only because of you,” he exclaimed.

PPP leaders promise new province for Seraiki belt

Mr Bhutto-Zardari said that the PML-N had vociferously opposed the establishment of a separate province, and that Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif was responsible for backwardness of south Punjab. “The budget for planting flowers in Lahore is higher than the health budget of south Punjab,” he added.

He said that after coming to power, the PPP would abolish general sales tax on agriculture, announce support prices for crops before their harvest, ensure equal distribution of irrigation water and control the agriculture input cost. He said that instead of introducing corporate farming his party would introduce cooperative farming which would benefit small farmers.

Former president Asif Ali Zardari said: “The country could have ceased to exist had it not been for the leadership of the PPP, which sacrificed their lives for the sake of country. Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and Benazir Bhutto always spoke about the masses and the country.”

Lauding ex-prime minister Yousaf Raza Gilani, Mr Zardari said: “He (Nawaz) is not brave enough like Makhdoom (Gilani) who did not go around asking why he had been ousted, like Nawaz Sharif did.”

Addressing Mr Sharif, the PPP leader said: “You have been ousted by Allah through judges with the power of masses.”

He said that even though the PPP government had completed its five years, Mr Sharif had been a part of every single conspiracy concocted against their democratically-elected government. “We did not hitch a conspiracy against them... they are worried and their speaker has said that the PML-N government will not complete its term. Now I would say that yes, the government is going to be dissolved as is evident from Ishaq Dar’s flight from country,” he said.

Mr Gilani began his speech in Urdu but switched to Seraiki on the insistence of the audience. He said that his government had initiated several projects for the uplift of the Seraiki belt, and promised that his party would make a separate Punjab province after coming to power.

Published in Dawn, December 16th, 2017