LOWER DIR: PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari has called his nemesis Nawaz Sharif ‘the prime minister of Rai­wind’ and asked him to contest elections and give up “the politics of selection”.

The PPP chairman, while addressing a workers’ convention at the Timergara Rest House ground on Saturday, said that before becoming prime minister for a fourth time, Mr Sharif should be asked about his performance during the previous three terms.

Mr Sharif was “brought to power” three times, but every time “he fought with the very forces that had brought him to power”, the PPP chairman said.

“If Mian Sahib [Mr Sharif] becomes the prime minister, we will again see the traditional politics, and he will fight with those who brought him to power.”

Says every time PML-N supremo became PM, he fought with forces who handed him power

Along with Mr Sharif, the PPP leader censured his other political rival, Imran Khan, claiming they both “failed to keep their promises made with the nation”.

He said PPP had no rivalry with the two leaders but was “fighting against poverty, inflation and unemployment”.

Mr Khan was ‘the prime minister of Zaman Park’, he said, and added: “Polari­sa­tion is at the peak, and the politics of hatred and egoism is dividing the nation.”

He said Mr Khan, as prime minister, failed to fulfil his promise of building five million houses and providing 10m jobs.

The ex-PM came to power “with the slogan of change and Naya Pakistan,” but nothing changed, and the politics of hatred and abuse was promoted.

People “should vote for PPP” to end this environment of acrimony and elect him the next prime minister if they want the country to progress and develop, said Mr Bhutto-Zardari.

Appreciating the people of Dir, the PPP leader recalled that they had supported his grandfather, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and his mother, Benazir Bhutto.

“The people made their sister, Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto, the first woman prime minister in the history of Muslim world, and she struggled for democracy and the rights of people for three decades.”

After Ms Bhutto’s assassination, the PPP leader said, “people elected PPP again in the 2008 elections”, after which the province of Khyber Pakh­tunkhwa was able to get its own identity and share in resources.

Former president Asif Ali Zardari renamed the then North West Frontier Province and passed the “historic” 18th Amend­ment to provide the province its share in the resources.

Mr Bhutto-Zardari said his party, if elected to power, would link Dir and Chitral to Tajikistan through motorway so that local traders could benefit from the ease of mobility.

He asked the gathering to convey to the women of Dir that his party would serve them and try to make the dream of his mother come true.

“The PPP would distribute national resources with justice.”

The PPP chairman said there were PML-N ministers in the caretaker government and vowed to resist the privatisation of PIA.

The nation “would not let the PML-N buy PIA as there were reports that it had been pur-chased instead of privatisation”.

The national carrier’s workers’ union should be taken into confidence, and PPP will “fully support the employees” on this issue, he added.

Other than Mr Bhutto-Zardari, the gathering was addressed by PPP KP chief Muhammad Ali Shah Bacha, former MNA Akhunzada Chattan and local leaders Malik Azmat Khan, Mahmood Zeb Khan, Muhammad Zamin Khan and others.

Published in Dawn, December 10th, 2023