[:en]ASIM SHEHZAD
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Peoples Party chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari in his address to the National Assembly on Friday congratulated Olympic champion, Arshad Nadeem on his victory.
He said that Arshad made history by creating a new Olympic record and bringing home the gold medal for Pakistan. This is proof that the Pakistani youth, when given the opportunity, emerge victorious.
Chairman Bilawal called for consensus in the House over supporting youth in Pakistan, as they are capable of achieving such accolades. In Lyari alone, every other youngster is capable of bringing home the FIFA World Cup due to the influx of talent. Chairman PPP said that recently, he met young girls in Peshawar who are competing in Taekwondo from D I Khan and bringing medals for Pakistan. It is unfortunate that neither the federal government nor the provincial government provided the necessary support. In the next Olympics, every province of Pakistan should win a medal, Chairman PPP resolved while advising the Federal Minister for Sports to establish an endowment fund in collaboration with all provincial ministers for this purpose.
Chairman Bilawal said that the talents of the Pakistani youth, and the skills of the labour have turned vast deserts such as the Middle East into major cities. There is every possible resource available within Pakistan. Islamabad was made only to serve the people of the country. These buildings house the biggest institutions of the country. There is the presence of an entire battalion of bureaucracy in the country along with all the politicians and other powerful entities. However, ever since this city was made, we have never fulfilled the purpose for what it was created. We begin concocting conspiracies and fighting amongst one another. We keep bearing losses due to the infighting between politicians and the adventurism of the military generals. The politics of hate and division is at the peak, with unprecedented polarisation.
“We are witnessing a plethora of crises, and have not been able to effectively address issues such as inflation and worsening law and order, Chairman Bilawal said. We are not even able to form the bare minimum consensus on protecting the country from terrorism. We are hurling insults at each other on the television. We would have to devise a way to compete with each other within political domains. We have to resolve the issues faced by the people. The political workers are closely monitoring the situation in Bangladesh, Chairman Bilawal said while citing an example. The protests that erupted there were over a quota for the martyrs of their Army. The quota had been removed by Sheikh Haseena Wajid herself in 2018 but was restored by the court. The protests could not be stopped and Hasina Wajid had to leave her post. The entire region should learn from this and address the real issues of the people,” he said.
The chairman said the crisis of the month is the distance between institutions. This is being created by the continuous interference of an institution with this institution (Parliament). The history of the judiciary is before the entire country. Our judiciary has also broken world records. Pakistan’s judiciary is so capable that it not only runs the court but also builds dams. The judiciary can even combat inflation and set the prices of tomatoes and samosas. No judiciary in the world can compete with our judiciary. Chairman Bilawal said that the citizens of the country still await justice. We are thankful to the judiciary to have given us justice after a three-generation long struggle on our end, that began with Quaid-e-Awam Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s martyrdom. They admitted that he was not given a fair trial, but they could not take any clear step to right this wrong.
In Pakistan currently, a storm in a teacup is being transformed into a full-blown constitutional crisis, Chairman PPP said. Not me, not the Speaker, not the members, PM or the Parliament but the judiciary itself is responsible for this crisis. This is a crisis of the judiciary, by the judiciary and for the judiciary. The Leader of the Opposition should be asked whether it was us who snatched their symbol. It was the court that stated that their internal elections were rigged which is why they could not get a symbol and would not be considered a political party. This last-minute decision benefitted a dead political party, with no election campaign, which mobilised it. It is now being said that this was not the intention. A decision then was made to distribute the seats amongst them as if they are candy.
As long as this country does not adopt the Constitution, law and a democratic demeanour, and its institutions not work within their boundaries, the purpose behind building this city and our presence here would remain futile. Our only advice would be for political discourse to take place to reclaim the space of politicians sans the political hatred and division.[:]
