Pakistan: Bilawal’s dilemma

IF the PPP is to play an effective role in the country’s politics, it must have a development model apart from making “our culture … our weapon” in the fight against extremism. In his latest speech at Garhi Khuda Bukhsh on Friday, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari showed he is aware of this. Apart from his assault on extremism, the PPP patron in chief spoke about developing areas under the control of his party’s government in Sindh. He attacked some of the policies of the PML-N at the centre, criticising the ‘anonymous gift’ of $1.5bn, shelving of the IP gas pipeline and what he called “personalisation” in the name of privatisation. And he registered his opposition to talks with the Taliban — an initiative which his party has been supporting in and out of parliament. It was in effect a recap of the Bhutto scion’s take on various issues, at the end of which everyone was left wondering how he planned to find the path to the PPP’s resurgence outside its bastion of Sindh.

The PPP’s Punjab campaign has been on hold mainly because of the threat to the life of its top leadership. The party must find a way to re-enter Punjab, which it is struggling to do without the physical presence of Bilawal Bhutto Zardari. It tried working through some of its prominent Punjab-based members, with no success. Threats have been hurled at the young PPP leader recently, and it seems that for now he will not be able to tour Punjab. The slogans from its base in Sindh, in the meanwhile, are, among other things, a way of keeping the party relevant nationally. Other options for the PPP leader are to take the plunge with no care for the consequences or rely on low-intensity politicking by local PPP cadres in Punjab. In the given situation, the party’s politics can be greatly helped by evidence of how it is grasping new realities in areas where it is ‘allowed’ to manoeuvre. Apart from the slogans which the PPP would have done well to translate into action during its most recent stint in power at the centre, the evidence of a party which has learnt from its mistakes must also come from Sindh. This is the least it can do.