Gilgit(National Times)- PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari on Thursday urged Gilgit-Baltistan voters to give his party a \u201cheavy\u201d mandate by securing a majority in order to safeguard the region\u2019s rights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Bilawal was addressing a rally in Ghizer, amid a series of rallies across GB as the PPP and other political parties have, over the past few days, ramped up<\/a> efforts to garner support ahead of the polls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Referring to the nine seats the PPP had won in the last GB elections, Bilawal claimed other seats had been stolen. However, this time, \u201cno one can steal seats from you, and this means that all three of Ghizer\u2019s seats will be yours,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Of other political parties in the running, he said the party wanted a \u201cheavy majority in GB \u2014 not for me, but for you\u201d so that together they could complete Zulfikar Ali Bhutto\u2019s and Benazir Bhutto\u2019s \u201cincomplete\u201d mission in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The PPP chairman highlighted the achievements of those that came before him, including Zulfikar Ali Bhutto\u2019s subsidies that continued to benefit the region and Benazir Bhutto\u2019s giving Ghizer the status of a district. President Asif Ali Zardari, he added, had given GB its Assembly, identity, governor and chief minister: \u201cnow it is my turn and yours\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt is the new generation\u2019s responsibility to get more rights for GB,\u201d he said, adding that he wanted the mandate from the region so that he could demand that Islamabad listen to the wishes of the GB people \u201cbefore making any other provinces\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Bilawal particularly stressed the need for a PPP majority, including all three Ghizer seats, in order to act on the right of sovereignty promised to the people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He noted that 28,000 square kilometres of land in GB had previously belonged to the state, saying that it was due to the GB people, the PPP and its Assembly members that legislation was passed in the Assembly to render it \u201cyour land, common land\u201d according to law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe people that say the PPP does not deliver on their promises \u2014 remind them that we have been in politics for three generations,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd for three generations we have had a record of being true to our word; when we make promises we deliver on them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n He added, \u201cNow what\u2019s left? I want to deliver on this legislation. If I don\u2019t get a government, if i don\u2019t get all three of these seats in Ghizer; if I don\u2019t get the seats in Baltistan, all of Gilgit, all of the Diamer division; if I am stopped from installing my chief minister, then I know \u2026 that whether it is the PML-N or another party, they will tear up our legislation like a piece of paper. They will not deliver on it and my promise will remain incomplete.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Bilawal also highlighted the right of ownership as a major reason to vote for the PPP, stating that the party wanted to give the ownership of arable land to the people of the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He also highlighted the Sindh People\u2019s Housing for Flood-Affectees (SPHF) programme<\/a>, in which two million houses were being built for flood-affected people with ownership of the houses and land being given to the people themselves. He termed the venture the \u201cbiggest land transfer in Pakistan\u2019s history\u201d since the land reforms made by Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, adding that it had created one million jobs in Sindh.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He declared his intention of creating a similar housing scheme in GB, starting from Ghizer, in order to support those who had also been affected by natural disasters and flooding in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Alongside the right to sovereignty and ownership, the PPP chairman also reaffirmed his commitment to the third party promise of the \u201cright to employment\u201d. He compared the PPP with other parties, stating that while PPP politicians competed to see who could create the most jobs \u2014 \u201cwhether government, private sector, public-private sector, outside the country, via technical education, skills\u201d \u2014 other political parties instead competed \u201cto see how many people they can make unemployed\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAfter the PPP government left, no provincial government of GB has given jobs \u2014 they have stolen them,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He declared this the \u201cfoundational difference\u201d between the PPP and other parties: \u201cThe PPP gives employment; they steal employment.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n He pledged that if elected, the PPP would do whatever was possible to create job opportunities, whether in the government sector or private sector, particularly for the unemployed youth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n At the same time, he stressed that he wanted these to be merit-based opportunities. In order to avoid any suspicion of personal bias, he stated his intention to employ artificial intelligence (AI) as a tool for examination and selection of candidates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Bilawal has spent the last few days addressing campaign rallies in the region, including a rally in Shigar<\/a> on Monday where he stated that any new constitutional amendment should provide protection to the rights of GB.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He also addressed a public gathering in Skardu<\/a> on Tuesday where he called for greater rights for the region. There, the Bhutto scion asserted that the PPP was the \u201conly party that represents the underprivileged and the poor\u201d, and emphasised that the country could only develop once the working class and the youth were economically empowered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Additionally, speaking in Diamer on Wednesday, he vowed<\/a> to address the resettlement concerns of those affected by the construction of the Diamer-Bhasha Dam on an \u201cimmediate basis\u201d if his party was elected. He added that had President Asif Ali Zardari\u2019s government not been removed in 2013, the dam would have been built by now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n