ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari on Wednesday unveiled a 10-point welfare agenda that he said would help address pressing issues of poverty, unemployment and inflation if his party is voted to power in the upcoming national elections.
The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) is recognized as one of Pakistan’s major political parties and has been elected to power consistently in the country’s southern Sindh province since 2008. The PPP, which won general elections in 2008 following former prime minister Benazir Bhutto’s assassination in a gun-and-bomb attack in 2007, has since then failed to make inroads into Pakistan’s most populous Punjab province, and as a result, form its government at the center.
Bhutto-Zardari, 35, will be leading his party once again in its bid to defeat rivals Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) in its bid to win the national elections again, when polling is held on Feb.8.
“If you provide an opportunity to the Peoples Party, then there are around 10 things which I want to do,” Bhutto-Zardari told supporters gathered to pay homage to his mother, Benazir Bhutto, in southern Pakistan’s Larkana district on her 16th death anniversary.
“These 10 points will be my priority, and if we implement all these 10 points, we will be able to address issues like inflation, poverty, unemployment to some extent.”
The Bhutto scion said doubling salaries of government employees would be on top of his government’s priorities if the PPP is voted to power in the coming elections.
Bhutto-Zardari promised to provide free solar energy of up to 300 units for economically disadvantaged people, saying his government would set up green energy parks in each district of Pakistan. He said provision of education for all would also rank among his government’s top priorities.
The PPP leader vowed to provide masses with free health facilities across the country and promised to build three million houses for people affected by the 2022 floods in Sindh, as well as individuals facing economic hardships.
Bhutto-Zardari said his government would expand the scope of the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP), a federal unconditional cash transfer poverty reduction program that the PPP introduced in 2008.
He promised that if voted to power, the PPP would introduce a ‘Youth Card’ for unemployed youngsters and launch programs to tackle hunger and food insecurity in the country.
The PPP leader took aim at his political rivals, saying his party would give a “befitting response” to its adversaries, especially in Punjab’s provincial capital of Lahore, when the masses take to the ballot box on Feb. 8.
Political activity is heating up across the country as the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) this week started scrutinizing thousands of nomination papers filed by candidates last week.
Returning officers will scrutinize the papers till Dec. 30 during which they would either accept or reject the nominations. The ECP will allot election symbols to candidates on Jan. 13, with polling set for Feb. 8.
