Former PM Imran Khan and Bilawal Bhutto.
Former PM Imran Khan and Bilawal Bhutto.
Pakistani General Elections: The date of general elections has been announced in Pakistan. Voting will take place on 8 February 2024. Before this, an important statement of Bilawal Bhutto’s Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) has come out. The PPP has said that it may form an alliance with other parties before the elections. Former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) is also included in this. Imran has been in jail since August. He has been convicted in a corruption case.
Imran and Zardari are staunch opponents
Asif Ali Zardari is the former President of Pakistan. Many opposition leaders were sent to jail during Imran’s tenure. Asif Ali Zardari is also included in these. According to media reports, there may be an alliance between PPP and Nawaz Sharif’s party Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N). However, when Nawaz Sharif returned to Pakistan from London a few days ago, Zardari’s thinking changed.
Actually, Asif Ali Zardari is trying to make his son Bilawal Bhutto the PM, but Nawaz’s return has tilted the political scale more towards PML-N. Nawaz is also getting the support of the army. He is also getting the same relief from the court which Imran Khan was getting till July last year. Therefore, a change is being seen in the politics of Pakistan.
Senior leader of Pakistan People’s Party Rana Farooq Saeed said in Lahore that we can form electoral alliance with other parties. PTI is also included in this, because we want to compete with Nawaz’s party PML-N. Usually such important political statements come from Asif Ali Zardari or Bilawal Bhutto. This time this statement has come from outside the Zardari family and its timing is also very important.
Not a single member of the Zardari family has met former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif since his return to the country after four years. Apart from this, there is another reason behind this statement. A few days ago, Nawaz’s party leader Syed Fazeel had said that his party can form an alliance with Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) in Sindh province. There is resentment in the Zardari family regarding this. This is because Sindh province is considered the stronghold of this family and PPP. More than twenty years have passed, but only one party is in power.
Bilawal Bhutto and Kashmir issue
Bilawal Bhutto was shocked after the Modi government abolished Article 370. Bilawal said that on August 5, 2019, India took a decision unilaterally and started a new way of atrocities on Kashmiris. He alleged that India is making efforts to change the situation in Kashmir. Bilawal said that even after all this, how can the international community sit silently. Bilawal said that India cannot shy away from the issue of Kashmir under the guise of allegations of terrorism.
Indian government had given a strong reply
When Bilawal Bhutto raised the demand for repeal of Article 370, a strong message was also given from India’s side. Foreign Minister S Jaishankar had reprimanded Bhutto and advised him to wake up from his sleep. Referring to the English idiom ‘Wake up and smell the coffee’, Jaishankar said that Article 370 is now history. Those who are talking about this should wake up from their sleep. Also, Jaishankar said that Bilawal Bhutto should give more emphasis on when he will vacate the illegal occupation of Jammu and Kashmir.
