Pakistan: Bhuttoism can save country from civil war: Bilawal

Pakistan People’s Party Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on Saturday said that only Bhuttoism could save the country from civil war as it’s the only political philosophy that calls for unity of the people and the state.

He said there are in fact only two political forces in Pakistan, one is Bhuttoism and the other comprises followers of dictators like Ziaul Haq and Pervez Musharraf. Bilawal said the script of certain forces would continue to be played until the installation of a stooge prime minister. Tens of thousands of people gathered to hear Bilawal, the son of slain ex-premier Benazir Bhutto, address a massive rally billed as his formal political debut. Ultra-tight security measures were in place for the rally in Karachi, where huge crowd of supporters sang and danced, waving the flag of PPP.

Speaking at Jinnah Bagh, the young PPP chairman said, “It is only Bhuttoism that calls for unity of federation and do not perform politics on linguistic, ethnic and religious basis.” He bitterly criticised media saying that it has been giving too much coverage to sit-ins of PTI and PAT but ignored Baloch people. He during his speech repeatedly raised slogan of ‘I am a rebel, I am a Bhutto!’

Bilawal said those trying to frighten them must know that a Bhutto never gets scared. He said they would use the force of democracy and not let their opponents force in their anti-democratic agenda. He said PPP is targeted because it is only they who talk of whole Pakistan. Bilawal, 26, is being groomed to lead the party by his father Asif Ali Zardari. The rally marked the seventh anniversary of the devastating bomb attack that hit Benazir Bhutto’s homecoming parade in Karachi on October 18, 2007, killing 139 people in the deadliest single terror attack on Pakistani soil.

“First elected representative prime minister of the Muslim Ummah was killed while suicide attacks were carried out on our leaders, our governor Punjab and minority minister were killed and they think that they could make us afraid from hangings,” he said. He said an innocent boy was sent to kill Benazir Bhutto and several PPP activists while several others were also killed on Karachi roads. “Are suicide attacks and capital punishments only for us?” he asked. The word afraid was not in the dictionary of the Bhuttos and they are not afraid of anyone, he added.

He said that conspiracy is being hatched to make Pakistan like Iraq and Syria, to arrange for emergence of another Osama Bin Laden and give space to forces like ISIS to kill Pakistani citizens. “We will allow this to happen and enemies of Pakistan will be destroyed and only Bhuttoism will succeed,” he said.

The PPP chairman said that the same stooges that are staging sit-ins today tried their luck in PPP era also while Hazara community victims in Quetta also staged a sit-in but PPP amicably resolved it. “Killings of Hazaras were a genuine issue and we even dissolved our government on it,” he said, adding that 14 innocent people were killed and several others were injured in police firing in Lahore but what Punjab chief minister did was registering FIR against the victims.

He said that Kashmir would become Pakistan but they would not let anyone make India-Pakistan negotiations hostage in the name of Kashmir issue. “Whenever I raise Kashmir issue, entire Hindustan screams,” he said, adding he was also seeking peace in Kashmir and his statements should not be misunderstood when he talks about Kashmir.

Bilawal said that Sindh government was doing better for the province as it had announced to give 0.4 milion scholarships to students, land to 20,000 farmers and carried out massive development work. “Those who criticize Sindh, should first come and see the development work in the province,” he said, adding they do not market their service to people as it was done in Punjab where normal buses were run in the name of metro buses, spending a budget three times of Indian budget on sending satellite.

Speaking about Karachi, Bilawal said he belongs to this city as he and his mother was born in it but today when he saw it seems that everyone was complaining about injustices being done to them. He said MQM was representing the city for last 20 years but it failed to serve its people. “Elections in 2018 will be free and fair and PPP will free Karachi residents in it,” he said.

“PPP government has done its best to tackle law and order situation in the city but it is fact that the city faces extreme shortage of law enforcement personnel,” he said, adding that the PM should announce emergency package for the city to overcome problems. He also invited party leaders on November 30 to join him at Bilawal House to discuss restructuring of the party and said that he would listen to the office bearers in that meeting and would devise a strategy to fight against the lion-symbol of PML-N.

Speaking on the occasion, Asif Zardari applauded courage of people who came despite of baseless security propaganda and said that PPP was serving people without taking any credit but people like Imran Khan wanted to take political credit from his hospital. “On one side there is confrontation at LoC and war on mountains in Waziristan while on other side the country is facing a political turmoil in Islamabad,” he said, adding that political leadership should hold a constructive talk over the future of the country.

He said when he implemented reconciliation policy, some of his friends opposed it but it proved that the policy helped in strengthening democracy in the country.

Analysts say Karachi has not seen such a huge PPP rally for years. The party is trying to show that it still has mass appeal, and can compete with other opposition politicians such as Imran Khan. It is, after all, a party that has fought military dictatorships in Pakistan time and again over the last four decades.