Electoral process: Keeping establishment away is real electoral reforms: Bilawal

KARACHI: Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari Monday said that the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) has never challenged the Buzdar government in Punjab.

Addressing a news conference in Karachi on Monday after launching the Benazir Mazdoor Card, Bilawal said, “It seems the PML-N and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) have muk-muka (consensus) in Punjab.”

“While Imran Khan is speaking about dissolving the assembly, PML-N is talking about resigning from the assembly. Therefore, both seem to be on the same page,” said Bilawal.

Responding to the questions of journalists, the PPP chairman said that the PML-N, despite having a big number of seats in the Punjab assembly never gave tough time to the Buzdar government.

He said the Punjab government had been running its affairs for three years but the PML-N had never tried to stop its smooth functioning. “Have you heard that PML-N tried to stop passing of budget or any other legislation in Punjab assembly,” he questioned.

He said they (PPP) had given a way out to the PML-N that how to get rid of this government but it seemed they were not interested in this. Bilawal said that they had launched the Pakistan Democratic Movement in order to get rid of the PTI government democratically and the way out for it was what we have shown in the Senate elections.

Commenting on the PML-N complaints about NA-249, Bilawal said that it’s the right of PML-N to complain if they have any proof of rigging. He said, however, they should not go to the Army rather they should go to the election commission.

He said they thought when the Army directly involved in the electoral process, it was natural to be questioned. He said in the 2018 general election, there was the biggest deployment of the Army inside and out of the polling stations. This makes the election process as well as the Army controversial, he added.

“The demands of PML-N regarding putting the vote bags under the Army’s supervision is not a responsible stance. PML-N should make it clear that whether it’s a principled stance or an individual’s opinion. If it is the party’s demand, then it is regretful,” he said. He said that in every other by-poll, the vote bank of the PPP continues to increase.

He said PPP had always been working for electoral reforms. He said they would play their role to take the opposition into confidence regarding reforms. However, he said, the fundamental aspect of the electoral reforms was about the role of the establishment. He said the real electoral reforms should be about keeping the establishment away from the electoral process.

Replying to a question about any contact with Maulana Fazlur Rehman, he said they did not have any contact with him regarding the PDM. He said the Benazir Mazdoor Card was a revolutionary step of the Sindh government. He said the PPP had always worked for the welfare of the labour class. He said this policy was introduced by Zulfikar Ali Bhutto himself.

He said, “The PPP manifesto says a country’s prosperity is linked with the labour class prosperity.” He said a country can develop when its labour class contributes to it. He said if a labour were worried about the education of their kids and illness of their parents, they cannot contribute to the development process.

He appealed to every labourer of Sindh to cooperate with the government for registration. He said this was his wish that each labourer of Sindh would have a Benazir Mazdoor Card in his hand.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021