Edited by Deepali Verma
Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, chief of Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), has hinted at the release of over 10,000 jailed workers of Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party after coming to power in next month’s general elections in the country.
Addressing a well-attended rally in Lahore, Bilawal encouraged the PTI workers to extend their support for him in the February 8 polls and in return he will bury the politics of vengeance and free all incarcerated political workers.
“The PML-N of Sharifs is taking revenge from the PTI. So, I ask for the support of PTI workers. If I come to power, my aim is to set free all political workers, including the PTI’s,” as per the promise of Bilawal.
The PTI revealed that close to 10,000 party workers still find themselves in jails, mostly in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces, for their alleged involvement in the attack on military installations in May last year.
Owing to the Supreme Court’s decision to deprive the PTI of its iconic symbol cricket ‘bat’, all its candidates are currently contesting independently. The military establishment is not permitting the PTI-backed candidates to campaign, the other parties like PPP and Jamaat-i-Islami Pakistan are luring the PTI supporters.
“I want to get rid of the politics of hate and division with the support of the people. However, Nawaz Sharif doesn’t want to as he wants revenge and is interested in 1990s politics. Therefore, the PTI workers and supporters should not waste their votes,” said Bilawal, who had been the foreign minister for the 16-month government of Shehbaz Sharif.
Additionally, he added that he had asked Imran Khan not to take part in the politics of revenge but his style of politics has led him to his current fate. Imran Khan has been incarcerated since August of 2023 in different cases.
Bilawal said that he and his family members along with the PPP workers faced political victimisation at the hands of the PML-N in the past.
“I do not want to witness any other party go through the same fate. The PTI workers should come in my support so that I can bury this politics of personal vendetta,” he said, remarking that his mother Benazir Bhutto had released all political prisoners as she became the prime minister.
“Once I form the government next month, I look to establish a ‘Truth and Reconciliation’ commission to take notice of the wounds of the provinces and the federation. The politics that deals with hate, division and distributing certificates of treason out of personal vengeance will be put to an end,” Bilawal said.
“Pakistan is staring at security challenges as terrorists are again gaining strength and my party’s agenda is to end terrorism from the country if it comes to power,” he said.
Bilawal is positive that his party will overcome economic crises and provide jobs to the youth by implementing the party’s ’10-point agenda’.
