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President Zardari condemns terrorism in South Waziristan

Former President of Pakistan and President Pakistan Peoples Party Parliamentarians, Asif Ali Zardari has expressed his regret and sorrow over the killing of five laborers in South Waziristan

President Zardari in a statement said that the killing of the workers constructing the police station is a very brutal act. He demanded that the terrorists and planners involved in the killing of workers should be brought to justice. 

Asif Ali Zardari expressed sympathy and condolences to the families of the martyred workers.

                                                                                                                               

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In-Charge PPP Central Election Cell sent a letter to the Chief Election Commissioner of Pakistan. Following is the text of letter

Honourable Chief Election Commissioner, Pakistan,

ISLAMABAD. 

Respected sir, 

          We have the honour to draw your kind attention to Section 18 of the Code of Conduct in which, ‘mayor/chairman/Nazim have also been restricted from participating in election campaigns. 

          Sir, as you are aware there is no law which prohibits a mayor/chairman/Nazim of Local Governments from contesting elections on a general seat for Provincial and National assemblies and presently there are many cases in which those elected in the Local Government elections are filing nomination papers for contesting on PA and NA seats in the forthcoming general elections. These candidates, naturally have to run and lead their election campaigns. 

          We also wish to point out to your honour that in the province of Punjab appointed village councils have replaced the constitutionally mandated local governments and these appointed persons are fully participating in the election campaign of a certain political party. As a matter of fact there are widespread reports that the village councils are providing jobs and contracts to the loyalists of that particular political party. You may be pleased to recall that in the meeting of our delegation with your good self we had pointed out the illegality of the appointed village councils in Punjab and your honour had concurred in principle with our point of view. 

            Sir, while there already is a ban on the use of government resources in election campaigns you may be pleased to direct that section 18 of the Code of Conduct may be so amended as to exclude the names of ‘mayor/chairman/Nazim’ from the list of those who cannot participate in election campaigns.

             Secondly, your honour may be pleased to order that appointed village councils in the Province of Punjab may be dismissed with immediate effect. 

Thanking you and with best regards;

                                                                                                                                  Yours sincerely;

                                                                                                                                (Senator Taj Haider)

                                                                                                                    In-charge PPP Central election Cell

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Use of Force against peaceful marchers from Turbat condemned

Plea for compassion & humanity instead of ego to address enforced disappearances

The excessive use of force against peaceful demonstrators from Turbat to raise their voice against enforced disappearances in Rawalpindi and subsequently in Islamabad is condemned in the strangest terms. If the law enforcing agencies hoped to prevent their voice from reaching far and wide, it has miserably failed.

This was stated by Senator Farhatullah Babar, president human rights cell of the PPP after visiting the uprooted camp in front of the National Press Club Islamabad Thursday afternoon.

The sight of a few frightened men and women crammed in the uprooted camp with no one from the government to put balm on their wounds will send shivers even among the coldest observers, he said.

He said that the protestors did not expect that the march would result in the production of the disappeared nor they sought a show down. They only wanted their voice to reach out to the powers that be in the capital and to the world at large. The images of state brutality against them in digital spaces, if not in mainstream media, however has frustrated bid to stifle voices of anguish.

He said that since 9/11 enforced disappearances has been institutionalized as admitted by General Musharraf in his memoirs that hundreds of people were handed over the CIA in return of millions of dollars.

The Commission of Enforced Disappearance set up under legislation in 2010 has utterly failed as it has not identified, let alone prosecuted and punished, a single perpetrator of the crime. “The impunity of the crime is frightening and poses threat to the integrity of the federation”.

In the month of December one wishes to recall the Supreme Court verdict delivered in this month a decade ago in 2013 in the case of disappearance of 35 persons from Malakand Internment Centre as reported in PLD 2014 SC 305, he said.

The SC then identified the elements behind the disappearances and directed the government to “immediately proceed with the case and ensure recovery of these persons within seven days and submit report to Registrar for our perusal” It also directed that “the persons who are responsible for the same, should be dealt with strictly in accordance with law”, he said.

He said that disappearances with impunity brought to mind the frightening Chilean model of the 1970s when fear and terror was institutionalized through disappearances and extrajudicial killings.

The Chilean dictator Pinochet was finally brought to justice to some extent under the principle of universal jurisdiction to punish such crimes. It may be a small consolation but the victims of disappearances and their families in Pakistan perhaps do not seek this consolation. All they seek is that those who have disappeared be brought into the open and tried under law for any wrongdoing they may be alleged of having committed, he said.

Senator Farhatullah Babar urged the authorities to heal the wounds of the families of victims of disappearances before it is too late. Let compassion, humanity and rule of law and not the ego of a few individuals serve as the compass, he said.

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Chairman Bilawal’s media talk in Lahore

Chairman Pakistan Peoples Party, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on arrival at the residence of a senior party worker, Zubaida Shaheen to enquire about her health in Lahore spoke to the journalists. He said that he is delighted that he has come to Lahore as the PPP was founded in Lahore and we will work hard to bring the party at a stage where it was during the times of Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto. 

Chairman Bilawal said that the people of the country are in trouble because of high inflation. The government of the Party will be representative of the people and will resolve the issues faced by them. The PPP has always fought against poverty, inflation and unemployment. The PPP has always fought poverty and there is no opponent of the Party but poverty, unemployment and price hike. He said that the traditional parties are doing the politics of hatred and division whereas we are doing the politics to serve the people. He promised to solve the problems of the people with their support.

Responding to the questions by the journalists, he said that we have to implement the slogan of “Roti, Kapra Aur Makaan”. In the past we had introduced the revolutionary programme by the name of Benazir Income Support programme to provide financial relief to the poor women and to save them from acute poverty. On similar lines we will introduce the ‘Youth Card’. We want to help those who are in need. 

Responding to a question, Chairman Bilawal said that we will not only give a surprise in Balochistan but also in the entire country including Punjab if we get a level playing field. He said that the door of dialogue is always open in politics. We are facing a situation in which the politics of division is at its peak in Pakistan. We would like to take every party along with us when we come to power. We are all patriotic Pakistanis and we will work together. We are passing through a historic economic crisis and to emerge from it, will have to introduce a new kind of politics. The workers of the party in Lahore are courageous and steadfast and have stood with us during even the most barbaric dictatorships. We are proud of the PPP workers who offered great sacrifices. The PPP gave rights to the growers and laborers. The PPP is a party of the downtrodden masses, Chairman Bilawal said.


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Former president addresses with the party workers’ convention in Turbat

President of Pakistan People’s Party Parliamentarians and former President of Pakistan, Asif Ali Zardari has said that the incoming PPP government after the upcoming general elections will start development projects in the fields of education, health and communication to speed up the development process in Balochistan, as well as will ensure supply of irrigation water to promote agriculture in the province. He said that in terms of development projects, “Balochistan will be the first” now, and “there is a lot of scope for Balochistan to move forward”.

According to the press release issued by media cell Bilawal House Karachi, the former president, while addressing the party workers’ convention here on Monday, said that Balochistan is the heart of Pakistan. He urged that conflict does not bring prosperity, and added: “We will beautify Balochistan, Balochistan has many resources. I will make Balochistan 10 times ahead.” He said that during the party’s previous government in the province, he provided funds but did not monitor the development projects. “Now I will supervise the development projects myself,” he vowed.

Former President pointed out that previous PPP governments in Sindh had build lining canals, as a result of which sugarcane is being cultivated in many uninhabited areas of the province. “Gold can also grow here in Balochistan,” he added.

President Asif Ali Zardari said that development in Balochistan will be done in cooperation with China, saying: “China will be our partner, we will work together with China.” He pointed out that Gwadar was already there, but no one except the PPP government paid attention to the expansion of that port. “We have to improve the economic conditions, we have to give employment to the youth of Balochistan,” he said, adding that Benazir Income Support Program (BISP) will be expanded and educated unemployed youth will be given stipend till they get employment. 

The former president said that individuals sitting in Islamabad do not understand Balochistan, they do not understand Punjab, Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa either, adding that the PPP government formed after the upcoming general elections will build a university in every division of Balochistan, a college in every district and medical colleges and hospitals keeping in mind the population. 

The former president said that he had endured 14 years of imprisonment, during which he trained himself. Whenever PPP comes to power, it comes to serve the people, he said and added: “I gave identity to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province by giving its name. It’s not our fault, it’s our pride.” 

He said that no nation can bear the burden of another, and added: “We gave hospitality to Afghans for 40 years, but today they are reluctant to be our brothers.”

He urged that he want everyone to return to their homeland, stay in their own homes. No other country can take care of them. We will take care of our own,” he concluded.

Meanwhile, former Caretaker Federal Interior Minister Sarfraz Bugti formally announced his joining PPP at the workers convention.


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Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) has welcomed the decision taken by the Supreme Court yesterday to ensure the general elections in the country on February 8

Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) has welcomed the decision taken by the Supreme Court yesterday to ensure the general elections in the country on February 8, and has announced that Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari will start his party’s election campaign on December 27 with a grand gathering on the eve of martyrdom anniversary of Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto.

According to a press release issued by Media Cell Bilawal House, senior leaders of PPP, Senator Sherry Rehman, Shazia Atta Marri, Sharjeel Inam Memon, Syed Nasir Hussain Shah, Mukesh Kumar Chawla and Surender Valasai said in a press conference that an important hybrid meeting of the party leaders was held today (Saturday) at Bilawal House Karachi which was presided by Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari.

Sherry Rehman told the press conference that the current political situation of the country was discussed in the meeting, adding that the meeting eulogised Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari for creating pressure through his recent successful public contact campaign to hold general elections in the country on time. “Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari will visit all four provinces during his election campaign and mobilize the people,” she added.

Shazia Atta Marri, PPP-P Information Secretary, said that PPP is still the only party in the country which has held a high-level meeting of its organization to review the situation after the release of the election schedule and to formulate its future action plan, which is a manifestation of its seriousness regarding the election. “PPP is a democratic party, believes in elections and is the only party in the country which is in election mode,” she added.

Ms Marri said that this is a message from Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari to the people pf the country that they should choose PPP in the elections to be held on February 8 to get the country out of crisis. “This is the opportunity to spread the developmental works that have been undertaken in Sindh, to the entire country. People should use their vote correctly,” she added.  

Sharjeel Inam Memon said that Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari was the only leader, who has been constantly raising his voice to hold elections on time in the country. “Some parties were approaching the courts to postpone the election, while the behavior of some parties was clear that they were running away from the election,” he said, adding that Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari is talking about uniting the whole country and every class instead of the politics of hatred and division.

Meanwhile, the hybrid meeting was attended by PPP Women Wing’s Central President Faryal Talpur, Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani, Sherry Rehman, Shazia Marri, Faisal Karim Kundi, Nisar Ahmad Khuhro, Murad Ali Shah, Khursheed Ahmad Shah, Qamar Zaman Kaira, Nawab Sanaullah Zehri, Makhdoom Ahmed Mehmood, Muhammad Ali Shah Bacha, Manzoor Wasan, Hasan Murtaza, Rozi Khan Kakar, Nasir Shah, Saghir Qureshi, Nadeem Afzal Chan, Sharjeel Inam Memon and Mukesh Chawla.

In the meeting, the general election schedule and campaign strategy, election manifesto and public contact campaign were discussed.


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President Zardari condoles the demise of the Emir of Kuwait

Former President of Pakistan and President Pakistan Peoples Party Parliamentarians, Asif Ali Zardari has expressed his profound sorrow and grief over the demise of the Emir of Kuwait, Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah. 

President Zardari said that Emir Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah was a trusted friend to Pakistan. He extended condolences to the bereaved family and people of Kuwait.

Asif Ali Zardari prayed for the forgiveness and high status of Emir Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah.


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Call to fight militants & not appease them

An important lesson of the Dec 16, 2014 massacre of nearly 150 students and staff of Army Public School Peshawar on this day is to look inwardly and shed any doubt that the militants must be fought to the end and not appeased

This was stated by the Sentor Farhatullah Babar president of the human rights cell of the PPPP while addressing the civil society demonstration in Islamabad Saturday evening to commemorate the APS martyrs.

 “December 16 is a dark day in the history of the country on this day that innocent students were martyred in a school in highly secured zone of the city and earlier in 1971 Pakistan broke into two after humiliating surrender in Dacca.

 “Introspection and an admission of mistakes on such a day is no shame”. 

The APS tragedy and the recent resurgence of terror in the country is a reminder that state’s security and foreign policies have failed as the non state actors are active once again are on a rampage with impunity, he said.

Those who sought to placate the militants and negotiate peace with them last year have done incalculable damage to the nation and must be held accountable.

He said that soon after the APS tragedy all political parties and institutions devised a National Action Plan to fight the terrorists but it has not been implemented. The Commission set up to inquire into the massacre of scores of lawyers some time back in Quetta headed by Justice Qazi Faez Isa stated it in no uncertain terms. There is need to implement the recommendations of that Commission, he said.

A closure of the tragedy will not be achieved without answering some fundamental questions about the APS attack repeatedly asked by the heirs of the victims, he said

On this day let us also reiterate that terrorists are terrorists without any distinction of good or bad and they must be dealt with an iron hand and not appeased.


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Delegations from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa call on President Zardari

Former member Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly Fataullah Miankhel called on Former President of Pakistan and President Pakistan Peoples Party Parliamentarians, Asif Ali Zardari today. 

Tehsil Nazim Dera Ismail Khan,  Makhdoom Altaf Shah, Fakhrullah Miankhel and Makhdoom Aftab Shah also met President Asif Ali Zardari.

PPP General Secretary Syed Nayyar Bokhari, Faisal Karim Kundi, Muhammad Ali Shah Bacha and Shazi Khan were present at the meeting of Dera Ismail Khan’s political leaders with President Asif Zardari. 

The political situation in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa as well as the strategy regarding the upcoming general elections was discussed. President Asif Ali Zardari was also invited by political leaders to visit Dera Ismail Khan. 

After a meeting with President Zardari, a prominent political figure from Mansehra, Chaudhry Sardar Ghulam Mustafa along with his colleagues Zahid Swati, Muhammad Shiraz Khan, Rustam Khan, Hamza Khan, Siraj Khan, Muhammad Javed and Bilal Fareed joined PPP. Syed Nayyar Hussain Bokhari, PPP Khyber Pakhtunkhwa General Secretary Shazi Khan, Peoples Lawyers Forum Sindh President Qazi Basheer and PPP General Secretary of the Ulema and Sheikh Wing Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Syed Abbas Ali Raza were also present.


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Chairman Pakistan Peoples Party, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari addressing a workers’ convention in Kohat said that he is grateful to the office bearers, organisations, candidates and Jiyalas of the PPP for making this series of the Party’s conventions a resounding success.

Chairman Pakistan Peoples Party, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari addressing a workers’ convention in Kohat said that he is grateful to the office bearers, organisations, candidates and Jiyalas of the PPP for making this series of the Party’s conventions a resounding success. The Jiyalas of PPP, the brothers of Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto and the soldiers of Quaid-e-Awami Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto have sent the message to the everyone that ‘philosophy of Bhutto’ is alive in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and will remain so. 

We were told not to hold conventions in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa owing to security concerns, Chairman Bilawal said. We were also told that the situation is such that the decision for the CM of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has already been made elsewhere. Our response to this was, that the Jiyalas of the Party are not to be deterred by such threats as they exhibit sheer courage and determination, and we will go to them as they are still ready to fight the mission of Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto. The Jiyalas of PPP have proved that they are always ready for elections, by choosing to come out at a time when the election campaign has not even begun properly and the election schedule is awaited.

The PPP has always represented the downtrodden masses and been their voice. The plethora of crises faced by the country today can all be resolved with the ideology of Quaid-e-Awam Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto in his manifesto. The PPP does not compete with its fellow politicians and parties, but poverty, unemployment and inflation. The Party has been fighting the war for ‘Roti, Kapra Aur Makaan’ for three generations. Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir would be recognised by the slogan of ‘Benazir Aaye Gi, Rozgaar Laye Gi’. This is because the PPP is the sole party that stands with farmers, labourers, students and the downtrodden instead of the elite class. 

The PPP aims to put an end to the traditional politics of hate and division when it is chosen by the people on February 8 and introduce a new form of politics that is based on service. The PPP’s only purpose to contest the elections is to serve the people, while its counterparts are doing so to either get out of prison or to avoid it. We wish to come to power so that we can expand the internationally-acclaimed Benazir Income Support Programme so that the poorest of women in the country can be provided with relief. We are contesting the elections to ensure that benefits are reaped by the farmers and labourers through the Benazir Kissan and Mazdoor cards, as well as the Youth Card for our youngsters, following in the footsteps of our elders who served these families. We wish for every district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to have free-of-cost healthcare institutions such as the NICVD, Gambat Institute and the SIUT. Being able to afford healthcare facilities or not should not determine whether one gets to live, Chairman Bilawal said. 

We are contesting the elections to continue the accomplishments achieved by Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto and President Zardari. The 1973 Constitution,18th Amendment and NFC Award are all gifts given to the people by the PPP and those wishing to repeal them would have to face us. We will establish an actual ‘rule of the people’ and see to it that the people get their rights and fair share. Twelve years ago, President Zardari had sent a reference to the Supreme Court of Pakistan to review the case of the judicial murder of Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. We hope that Justice Qazi Faez Isa would use this opportunity to rectify the mistake of its own institution, which was the very crime scene in this case. The constitutional and legal mistakes should be corrected. A decision alone would not be enough as we would need to tell the nation who the facilitators were in this murder, from General Zia to the judges, lawyers and politicians. They are the criminals. We hope that justice would be provided not only legally but keeping in mind the historical context, and that the entire world would get to know why a leader of the Muslim Ummah was sent to the gallows. If the court addresses this issue itself, it would be a source of renewed hope for the people of Pakistan, as they too can hope to get justice for themselves. 

Chairman Bilawal expressed his gratitude towards the people along with his resolve to serve the people. “We continue to keep trusting the people and leaving the Party’s fate in their hands alone, as we were taught by our leader that ‘people are the source of power’, Chairman Bilawal said.