Promise to resettle displaced communities if party forms government in Gilgit-Baltistan
DIAMETER:
PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on Wednesday called on the federal government to expedite the completion of the Diamer-Bhasha Dam and pledged to resolve resettlement challenges faced by communities displaced by the megaproject if his party wins the June 7 elections.
The Bhutto scion is touring Gilgit-Baltistan, where the PPP and other political parties have stepped up efforts in recent days to mobilize voters ahead of the elections.
Addressing a public gathering in Diamer, Bilawal claimed that the project had progressed significantly under the PPP government. He claimed that the Bhasha-Diamer dam would already be operational if the government led by President Asif Ali Zardari had remained in power beyond 2013.
Bilawal regretted that the resettlement issues of the people affected by the dam have not yet been resolved.
“I would like to promise you that after June 7 – when the PPP forms government in Britain – we will ensure the job is finished. [completed] and as far as resettlement is concerned, we will take care of it immediately,” Bilawal said.
The construction of the Diamer-Bhasha dam has affected thousands of people in several villages. The displaced residents are demanding that the federal government compensate them for the land they gave up for the construction of the dam.
In February last year, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif constituted a seven-member committee to look into the protesters’ demands and address their grievances.
The PPP chairman urged the Center to prioritize the construction of the dam. “It is not only a right of the people of Diamer, but it is a necessity for Pakistan,” he stressed.
“No project is more important to Pakistan at present than the Diamer-Bhasha Dam,” Bilawal stressed, calling on the Prime Minister to expedite work on the project.
“We heard about your ‘Shehbaz speed’ in Lahore [..] please also show your ‘Shehbaz speed’ to the people of Diamer and make sure the project is completed,” he joked.
The Bhutto scion claimed that the PPP was “the only political party which looked after the interests of the British people and which had the faith of the people”. “On June 7, the British people will demonstrate their power and elect a jiyala chief minister,” he said.
Recalling the PPP’s contributions to the region, Bilawal said it was his father, President Zardari, who “gave Britain its present identity, as the region was earlier called Northern Areas.”
Referring to current regional tensions, he said Pakistan needed a government “like the PPP, which could look the world in the eye”, adding that he could only do so because the party was the “true representative of the Pakistani people”. He reiterated his commitment to “secure the constitutional rights of Britain”, stressing that Islamabad must understand that “Pakistan can only prosper if the people of Britain prosper”.
He promised that through the party’s public-private partnership initiatives, the region would not only meet its own energy needs but also provide electricity to other parts of the country.
“I am not here to air grievances; it is not in our nature. Why was Quaid-e-Awam (former Prime Minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto) hanged or why was my mother (former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto) martyred? [..] have you ever heard me complain? or why was my father imprisoned for 14 years [..] we are not the type to complain; we only know how to regain our rights. So support me and I will not disappoint you,” Bilawal said while addressing the public gathering.
Lashing out at his coalition partner, the PML-N, the PPP chairman wondered why rival political parties campaigning in Britain seemed worried.
