Bilawal starts ‘anti-government’ rally

Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari led an anti-government rally yesterday in Punjab, marking the start of a campaign aimed at regaining the once dominant position of the party in the politics of the key province.

The caravan of vehicles carrying party workers and supporters set out from the provincial capital of Lahore to Faisalabad.

Before the start of the rally, Bilawal vowed to dislodge the government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, blaming the rulers for failure to deliver on all fronts. “Shahbaz Sharif and Nawaz Sharif say that the country is making progress. How can a country make progress when sources of income are so limited,” he asked. “If you are with me... it is evident that we will have to run the Sharifs out,” he said.

The PPP chairman touched upon various problems affecting people, including gas and power shortages, agricultural support prices, shutting down of industries and a rise in unemployment. “They (Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz) will have to go,” he said. The rally was part of Bilawal’s plan to reorganise the party and boost the morale of party activists in Punjab who had gone into dormancy reportedly because of PPP’s ‘reconciliation policy’ towards the ruling PML-N. In December, Bilawal and his father Asif Ali Zardari made their first major appearance at a rally together in three years, announcing their intention to contest by-polls and acquire seats in “this parliament”.