KARACHI: Chairman of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on Monday said that Sindh’s rights are being robbed as Centre did not allocate anything for Karachi package in the federal budget.
PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto while addressing a ceremony on Benazir Bhutto’s birth anniversary, said that his party is trying to fulfill manifesto of Benazir Bhutto and live up to her expectations.
Lashing out at incumbent government, Bilawal said that Naya Pakistan of PTI is depriving people of basic necessities of life. He added that Sindh was facing biggest water shortage in 60 years and IRSA backed down after PPP raised its voice against it.
Bilawal Bhutto said that Sindh is not being given its resources but still it saw more economic development and reduction in poverty compared to other provinces. We would have performed ever better if Sindh was provided with its share of NFC award, he added.
Bilawal Bhutto has said that the court verdict on illegal constructions in Karachi must be reviewed. “This decision will have to be reviewed,” Bilawal said at a ceremony marking 68th birthday of her mother and late former PM Benazir Bhutto.
The PPP constructs homes, not raze them, according to the party chairman. Even if it did so, there must have been some legal, constitutional reasons. “Do not snatch those basic rights of the people hastily,” he said. “We should take care of them with equal, adequate compensation.”
Bilawal’s comments come amid multiple anti-encroachment drives in Karachi. These campaigns were launched on the orders of the Supreme Court. Illegal constructions that are currently being demolished in Karachi include Nasla Towers, Aladin Shopping Mall, Pavilion End Club, and houses and other structures along the Gujjar, Orangi and Mehmoodabad nullahs.
“I felt really sorry that outside the steps of the Supreme Court of Pakistan, people had to chant ‘Bahria Town was saved but Orangi Town was razed’ and ‘Bani Gala was saved but Gujjar naala was razed’,” Bilawal said. “This gives a bad impression,” he added.
The PPP chairman said they were not creating this impression. “I know the government is acting on the court orders and we respect the judiciary a lot.” He said they were acting upon those orders but stressed the need to provide alternate spaces to the affectees.
Earlier, in a statement on the occasion of her 68th birth anniversary, Benazir Bhutto, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said that today when the governance of Pakistan has derailed, and the institutions, as well as the people of the country, are at the mercy of ruthless cartels, it is but natural for every Pakistani to miss the daughter of the East.
PPP Chairman, in a statement said that Benazir Bhutto is not solely Pakistan’s former Prime Minister; she is the name of a movement. He further said that such movements make a mark in the history of the world and are responsible for the birth of new progressive eras.
“As an elected Prime Minister, she supported the supremacy of the Constitution and Parliament. Simultaneously, she created institutions for people-friendly governance and ensured access to fundamental rights such as education, health, and employment for the underprivileged.”
Speaking of the struggles faced by the former PM during her life, Chairman PPP added that humanity is ashamed of the atrocities committed against Benazir Bhutto.
Bilawal further said that he would continue the struggle to fulfill the unfinished mission of his martyred mother to strengthen democracy and make Pakistan prosperous. NNI
