PML-N Quaid reaches Quetta, meets Balochistan leaders n Former Balochistan CM Jam Kamal, two dozen elecatbles announce their allegiance to PML-N n Bilawal claims pitch being prepared for someone nUrges Nawaz to focus on Lahore instead of visiting Quetta n Zardari says alliances against PPP don’t matter, PPP will win elections.

QUETTA/ MITHI/KARACHI  -  Former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Tuesday arrived in Quetta on his maiden visit after his return from abroad ahead of the upcoming general elections.

He was accompanied by for­mer PM and PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif, PML-N Senior Vice President Maryam Nawaz Sharif, and other leaders. The provincial president and gener­al secretary of PML-N received their leadership. During his vis­it, the PML-N Supremo met with various political leaders of Ba­lochistan. He also attended an event where leaders and sev­eral former parliamentarians of the Balochistan Awami Par­ty (BAP) announced their alle­giance to the PML-N. In a ma­jor move ahead of the February 8 general elections, Former Ba­lochistan Chief Minister Jam Ka­mal and two dozen electables in Balochistan joined PML-N par­ty. Nawaz Sharif held meetings with the leaders of the Nation­al Party (NP), Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI), Pashtoonkhwa Milli Awami Party (PKMAP) and Ba­lochistan Awami Party (BAP) to gain their support. Nawaz Shar­if arrived in Quetta on a two-day visit hours after Pakistan Peo­ples Party (PPP) Chairman Bil­awal Bhutto-Zardari, while ad­dressing the media in Sindh’s Mithi area, advised the PML-N supremo to focus on Lahore in­stead of visiting Quetta.

Notably, significant figures from the former ruling par­ty BAP, including Sardar Ab­dul Rehman Khetran, Muham­mad Khan Lehri, Mir Ghafoor Lehri, Noor Muhammad Du­mar, Toor Uthmankhail, Sardar Masood Luni, Sardar Fateh Mu­hammad Hassani, Mir Mujeeb ur Rehman Muhammad Has­sani, Saleem Khan Khoso, Mir Shoaib Nowsherwani, Dostain Khan Domki, Rameen Muham­mad Hassani and others, an­nounced their allegiance to the PML-N. The PML-N’s engage­ment with JUI-F, NP, PKMAP, and BAP, coupled with support from key electables, positions the party favourably to secure significant backing in the forth­coming general elections. The NP and PKMAP, two nationalist parties, had previously formed an alliance with the PML-N post 2013 elections, solidifying their association during Dr Ab­dul Malik Baloch’s tenure as Ba­lochistan chief minister. Despite having a majority in the house, the PML-N decided to appoint Dr Baloch as the chief minister of Balochistan. However, Nawab Sanaullah Zehri was elected as the CM for the remaining peri­od. Later, Zehri was removed through a vote of no-confidence by Mir Quddus Bizenjo and the BAP was established inflicting serious harm to the PML-N.

Meanwhile, expressing his dedication to the province’s progress, Nawaz Sharif empha­sised, “Development of Baloch­istan has always been dear to us.”

‘PPP IS READY TO PLAY ON ANY PITCH’

Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said that if any party in the coun­try can bring stability by tak­ing everyone together, it is only his party, the PPP. He also add­ed that PPP is ready to play on any pitch, but rivals should trust their own politics and party, and not seek help from someone else. According to the press release is­sued by Media Cell Bilawal House, PPP leader while addressing the press conference said that peo­ple proved that they are with PPP by participating in the mammoth public gathering held in the Mithi previous day, adding that the per­formance of his party in Thar­parkar in the last few years is an example for other provinces. “PPP has done the job. We are, in fact, fulfilling the promises of Sha­heed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and Sha­heed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto (through this development),” he added. Chairman Bilawal Bhut­to Zardari said that the Thar Coal project is the most successful pri­vate public partnership project in Pakistan. He pointed out that ac­cording to UNDP and World Bank data related to Tharparkar, the mortality rate of mothers and children under 5 years of age has reduced by 50pc adding that the PPP (the provincial government) invested in the health sector, and took measures such as cash trans­fer programs for mothers and newborns, which resulted in im­provements not only in maternal health and child development, the death rate also decreased. “This does not mean that all the prob­lems have been solved. No, but we still have a lot of work to do. Un­til we bring employment to every household, and until we solve the problems of inflation and pover­ty, We will not breathe a sigh of re­lief,” he vowed.

Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said that if the next PPP govern­ment is formed, they will take the journey of development further, and a railway line will be built from Karachi to Thar­parkar, adding that the coal will be transported to the mar­ket through the railway line, and better travel facilities will also be available to the peo­ple of Tharparkar. He said that during the previous govern­ments, his party had differenc­es with the federal government on different issues, and added: “there were differences on dif­ferent issues, including rehabil­itation plans for the flood vic­tims, and such differences led to a few difficulties.” He urged that the caretaker government must continue the policy of the previ­ous government (PPP govern­ment in Sindh), and the caretak­ers should not be a hindrance to development projects.

In response to a journalist’s question on education, the PPP chairman said that education in the whole country has not been given as much attention as it should be. “But we have start­ed work on the NED University in Thar, colleges will be set up in different districts, and steps are being taken to train teachers,” he said, adding that the Sindh gov­ernment had to spend its funds in dealing with the situation due to first the Covid-19 pandem­ic and then two floods, as a re­sult of which some development projects have been delayed.

In response to another ques­tion, the PPP Chairman said that mental health has not been invested in Pakistan till date, and there is a lack of treatment in this regard. “We will build a large institution in Karachi with the private sector and bring fa­cilities on the lines of NICVD in all districts to address the men­tal issues that lead to suicides,” he shared the plan. Former For­eign Minister said that after be­coming a part of the previous government, he realised that there is a huge gap between Is­lamabad’s bureaucracy and the people. “Those who sit in Is­lamabad know next to nothing about the ground realities,” he added. He said that everyone knows that PPP is the only par­ty that feels the suffering of the poor citizens and when it comes into power, it takes revolution­ary measures like Benazir In­come Support Program (BISP), which benefits only the poor. 

“Pakistan’s history has proved that the PPP’s slogan, ‘The source of power is the people’, means that it does not look at left and right, (rather) we only look at the people,” he said, add­ing that PPP will continue its ef­forts to move forward the coun­try through democracy.

Responding to a question about being part of the previ­ous coalition government, the PPP chairman said that his par­ty took the decision to form the coalition government with the PDM as per the need of the hour. “We made this decision keeping the national interest in front, if we had kept the political inter­est in front, our decision would have been different,” he con­tended.

Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said that he has no con­flict with anyone. “I have to do my politics, and we have absolutely no quarrel with any institution at this time,” he added. He regretted that politics in the country has become so divided that no one is even ready to talk to each other.

He said that abusive language, accusations, politics of revenge have not been my training and neither can I understand that Pakistan can develop in such a situation. In response to an­other question, he said that our party never got a level play­ing field, adding that Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto was martyred during terrorism, but even after her martyrdom we contested and won the elec­tion. “Even today the field is be­ing prepared (for someone), but the PPP is ready to play on ev­ery kind pitch, and hopefully we will win too,” he vowed.

In response to a question re­garding PML-N, the PPP Chair­man said that he (Nawaz Shar­if) do visit Sindh, adding: “When they were in government, they used to come on aerial visits. We believe that every province should be given attention, and we will welcome them (in Sindh). Let me say that they should trust their party, do politics through it, don’t ask anyone else to do poli­tics for me, make room for me.” Bilawal went on to say, “I think Nawaz has been advised that be­cause there have been difficul­ties created for the PML-N in La­hore, so he has been pained to go to other provinces for seats. My advice would be that he should focus on Lahore and he should try and address the problems there. Maybe that’ll bring better results for him,” he said.

PPP chairman said that during the 15 months of being a part of the coalition government, he had the opportunity to close­ly observe the functioning of the PML-N, adding: “I have nev­er seen such politics when you have the support of the federal government, provincial govern­ment and institutions, but still you lose 20 out of 20 by-elec­tions. Have you seen such poli­tics before? I didn’t see it. They also ran away from the local bodies elections. I don’t know what they were afraid of.” He said that that PML-N should have focused on Balochistan not only today, but long ago.

In response to a question, Chair­man Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said that a caretaker chief minister like Justice retired Maqbool Baqir will not be found in any province. No question can be raised about their integrity. As a judge, Justice Maqbool Baqir proved that he is a man of justice. I trust him, he will do justice to everyone, and I hope there will be no injustice to the Peoples Party. He further said that it is a pity that transfer posting in Sindh is being done for money. “I know that the Sindh government is working with Adeeb Rizvi, then it will be fine, if the poor people suffer, I will not forgive.” In response to another question, Chairman Peoples Par­ty said that we were kicked out of PDM and we were criticised for joining Balochistan Awami Par­ty (BAP). “Now it is hoped that the PML-N will stick to its posi­tion that if the Balochistan Awa­mi Party was bad yesterday, it will be bad today and something sim­ilar will be revealed in Mian Sa­hib’s visit to Quetta.” To another question, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said that during the last coalition government, he was the coun­try’s youngest foreign minister, and feels proud of his 15-month role, and he is also ready to con­test election on the basis of it. “Ask Shehbaz Sharif, Ishaq Dar, Khurram Dastgir, Khawaja Saad Rafiq, Ayaz Sadiq, Ahsan Iqbal if they are ready to contest the elec­tion based on their performance of 15 months or are they hid­ing their mouths,” he questioned PPP Sindh President Nisar Ah­mad Khuhro, PPP Central Infor­mation Secretary Shazia Mari, former Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah, former MNA Mahesh Mal­ani and other party leaders and office-bearers were present on the occasion. Meanwhile, Pres­ident of Pakistan Peoples Party Parliamentarians (PPPP) Asif Ali Zardari on Tuesday expressed his gratitude to the people of Thar for warm welcome to Chairman PPP Bilawal Bhutto Zardari. In a statement issued by the party secretariat, he paid tribute to the office bearers and party workers of the PPP. Asif Zardari said that the people of Thar have made their decision known by wel­coming Chairman Bilawal with such zeal. He said that the peo­ple of Thar have not forgotten their sister, Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto. “Some people resort to alliances for power, but for us, the people are enough. Al­liances were formed against PPP in the past as well and we have paid them no heed as the people are our priority,” he added. Asif Zardari said that the philosophy of Quaid-e-Awam Shaheed Zu­lfikar Ali Bhutto is that the peo­ple are the source of power. In the upcoming elections, the PPP will win from the coast to Khyber Pa­khtunkhwa.