GUJRAT  -  Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bila­wal Bhutto Zardari said Thursday that the PPP will establish people’s friendly and democratic government.

Addressing the pub­lic gathering in Gujrat, he announced that the party has presented its manifesto to the people. He expressed his re­solve that, upon coming into power, the PPP will facilitate the people and address issues such as unemployment, infla­tion, and poverty.

Bilawal also called on Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supporters to vote for his party, days after he demanded the same from the Imran Khan-led Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) voters.

As elections ap­proach, Bilawal has branded himself as a leader willing to bridge the gap between politi­cal actors, vowing to en­sure that no person is a “po­litical prisoner” during his government if voted into power, and ending the “old ways” of political revenge. 

In his address to an election rally in Gujrat, Bilawal called on the people to stamp on the ‘arrow’ — his party’s electoral symbol — if they wish to see “real democracy” in Pakistan. “Today the lion is sucking peo­ple’s blood. Those who said that the PPP is no match for them are now obsessed with the PPP,” the former foreign minister said while taking a jibe at his political opponents.

He said that there must be some reason that “the lion is not coming out to prey”. 

Bilawal said that those who used to say that the PPP is not present in Punjab and are not contesting, have nothing to talk about but the party these days. If there is any party that is serious about the elections, then it is the party of Quaid-e-Awam Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. Only the PPP’s Jiyalas are running the election cam­paign. The PPP has held con­ventions and gatherings all over KP, Punjab, Balochistan and Sindh. As opposed to this, the PPP’s rivals do not even leave their houses. There is a reason behind the lion not go­ing out to hunt, but demand­ing someone else to hunt on its behalf. They do not even have a manifesto to show, as it is still being prepared. They cannot even tell the people how they will serve them after coming to power for the fourth time.

The PPP’s 10 promises to the people need to be con­veyed to every doorstep. The right to vote is the power of the people, and this is what the people of Punjab need to be apprised of. The PPP re­solves to not only increase wages, but double them with­in five years. The Party also resolves to provide 300 units of electricity free-of-cost to the deserving citizens of the country. The PPP aims to con­struct three million houses for the people all over the coun­try, and give ownership to the women of the households. Si­multaneously, the PPP govern­ment is resolving to regularise temporary houses while giv­ing ownership to the residents so they too can experience the serenity of living in one’s own place. Moreover, the PPP plans to not only expand the revolu­tionary Benazir Income Sup­port Programme but also pro­vide interest-free loans to the women of the country so that they can gain financial inde­pendence and contribute to the economy of the country. 

Addressing the support­ers of the PML-N, Chairman Bilawal said that the PML-N workers who had turned democratic and faced Gen­eral Musharraf in the ARD, and talked of the sanctity of the vote, saw their own party leave its narrative. This is the same old PML-N of Dictator Zia-ul-Haq and IJI. If the work­ers of PML-N want democracy and for the sanctity of the vote to prevail, they should stamp the symbol of the arrow as this is the lion that sucks the blood of the farmers, labour­ers, youth and the downtrod­den. Addressing the workers of the PTI, Chairman PPP said that if they wish to stop Nawaz Sharif from becoming the PM for the fourth time, then they could either waste their vote by opting for independent candidates, which amounts to supporting the PML-N, or channel their energy and stra­tegically use their right to vote.