Pakistan People’s Party Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari addresses a press conference in Karachi on November 7, 2025. Screenshot
LAHORE:
PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has once again opposed the idea of banning any political party but said political parties should also adopt a responsible political attitude.
Speaking to the media after visiting the house of late senior party functionary Zubaida Jafri in Baghbanpura area of Lahore, where he offered his condolences to the family on his demise, the PPP chief on Wednesday said that it is the responsibility of the government to give space to the opposition in politics.
“All political forces must play a serious role for the betterment of the country,” he said.
However, the PPP chairman also indirectly criticized Imran Khan’s PTI, stating that even though Pakistan faces dual threats from the eastern and western borders, “one political party”, instead of supporting the armed forces against the country’s opponents, consumed all its energies trying to defeat military chiefs and hatching conspiracies through social media.
“Instead of attacking national heroes, they should focus on the issues and public service,” he said.
Further doubling down on the PTI, he said the political party was trying to create a wedge between the people and the army by playing the role of a “political antichrist”.
“I am free. I can criticize the government and also praise it. Someone should go and tell these people that politics is not extremism.”
He said the PTI’s policy had proven detrimental even to themselves.
He added that if any political party supports terrorists, there could be a risk of the governor ruling wherever the party is in power.
However, Bilawal said he had not seen Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Governor Faisal Karim Kundi’s statement in this regard. The PTI governs the KP and the federal government and threatens the party that the imposition of the governor’s rule in the province is not out of the question.
During the conversation, Bilawal also veiledly attacked Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz.
Expressing lack of confidence in the Election Commission of Pakistan, he said electoral reform is imperative before the next elections so that “no prime minister is accused of being a product of Form 47”.
The PPP chairman, a key ally of the PML-N-led government, said neither the government nor the opposition allies have any confidence in the ECP.
He urged parties of both parties to work toward electoral reforms. Bilawal once again alleged fraud in the DG Khan elections, saying that PPP candidate Dost Muhammad Khosa had won but was not declared the winner. He promised to fight against this injustice.
Bilawal said neither he nor his party could be accused of securing a victory in Form 47, a euphemism used to describe an establishment-awarded seat where election results are supposedly altered.
He invited Maryam Nawaz and other PML-N leaders to come and participate in the Sindh elections.
Bilawal said Afghanistan was playing into the hands of anti-Pakistan forces by providing shelter to terrorists and miscreants. He said the impression there was was that those involved in terrorist activities had the full support of Afghanistan’s interim system.
Later in the day, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari welcomed a former PTI leader and caretaker of a famous shrine to the party. Bilawal also held meetings with youth and student bodies and listened to their suggestions and problems to improve their respective organisations.
The PPP chief is scheduled to visit Chiniot to pay his condolences over the death of Hasan Murtaza’s father. His departure will mark the end of his Lahore tour as he is expected to return to Faisalabad, from where he is likely to leave for Islamabad.
He was accompanied during the visit by Punjab Governor Sardar Saleem Haider Khan, Raja Pervez Ashraf, Nayyar Bukhari, Nadeem Afzal Chan, Faisal Mir and Nargis Khan.
