KARACHI: Pakistan Peoples Party chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari said on Monday that his party had serious reservations over the results of the 2013 general elections but it accepted the polls for the sake of democracy and to save the system.

He expressed these views during a luncheon interaction with journalists at the Bilawal House.

Mr Bhutto-Zardari also hinted at contesting the 2018 general elections from a national assembly constituency in Larkana (NA-207) from where his slain mother Benazir Bhutto used to contest elections. However, he maintained that the final decision in this regard would be taken by his party.

He termed the protest sit-ins of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf and the Pakistan Awami Tehreek a ‘non-serious political activity’.

He was of the view that politics should be left aside for a while in view of the devastating floods in Punjab and the plight of internally displaced persons in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa due to the Operation Zarb-i-Azb.

Responding to a question as to when the Azadi and Inquilab marches would come to an end, he replied that the protests would end as soon as the media stop giving coverage to them.

He questioned the criteria of the coverage of the PTI’s and PAT’s protests, and said that the media did not give as much coverage to the protest demonstrations and rallies held for the recovery of missing persons.About a statement of Muttahida Qaumi Movement chief Altaf Hussain regarding division of Sindh on administrative grounds, he said: “Sindh is a historic entity and cannot be divided and as such talking about its division is absurd.”

He welcomed the announcement from a faction of the outlawed Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan that they would not carry out attacks in the country.

Published in Dawn, September 16th, 2014