PPP chairman calls on PTI to return to democratic politics, says it will benefit the party and its leaders
Pakistan People’s Party Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari delivers a video speech on the party’s 58th founding day, Sunday, November 30, 2025. Photo: Express
Pakistan People’s Party Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari urged Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf to abandon what he described as extremist politics and return to conventional political engagement.
“Based on our history and experience, our advice is that Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) must abandon extremism and return its politics to democratic boundaries. This will be better for its party, its leader, its workers and for the overall political environment of the country,” Bilawal said while inaugurating an intensive care unit at Larkana Children’s Hospital on Sunday.
Bilawal criticized the PTI for attacking state institutions following the arrest of its leader, saying his party would have faced much harsher consequences if it had acted similarly. “If the PTI attacked institutions after the arrest of its leader and nothing happened, I ask, what would have happened to us if the PPP had done the same?” said.
He said political stability and survival of democracy in Pakistan required responsible conduct by both the government and the opposition. “If you practice extremist politics, then you can’t complain about the harshness that follows,” he said, citing an English idiom: “If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.”
Referring to legal cases against political leaders, Bilawal said: “If a small NAB case is filed against your leader and in response to his arrest you attack our national institutions, then you should not complain later because it will be acted upon according to the law.”
He recalled posing the same question to party workers a day earlier at Garhi Khuda Bakhsh. “It is about the PTI, but I ask you again: if the PPP had attacked the institutions for the arrest of its leader, what would have been our fate?” he said, adding: “With PTI, nothing seems to be happening.”
Responding to another question, the PPP president said reconciliation remains the core political philosophy of his party. He said President Asif Ali Zardari had played a leading role in promoting reconciliation in the past and would continue to do so in the current political climate. “President Zardari has a history of reconciliation, and even today he will have to play that role,” Bilawal said.
He said tensions were high on Pakistan’s borders with India and Afghanistan and the country was facing terrorism. “At that point, if the PTI behaves like an extremist organization, the state’s response will be exactly the same,” Bilawal said.
Bilawal also thanked the prime minister for sending a delegation to attend Benazir Bhutto’s anniversary commemorations, but said there were no political discussions. He stressed that political parties must find political solutions and said such an approach was in the public interest.
Referring to the elections, he said that the elections would be held on time and that any reforms necessary to ensure transparency should be carried out jointly by political parties. “There is still time before the elections,” he said, urging all parties, including Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI), to focus on electoral reforms and address objections.
Highlighting Sindh’s healthcare initiatives, Bilawal said key health centers had been established in Karachi and other districts of the province, stating that no other province offered comparable services. He said highly sensitive intensive care facilities, which he described as globally expensive, were being inaugurated in Larkana.
He added that in collaboration with ChildLife Foundation, pediatric healthcare services were being expanded across Sindh. “Sindh now has the lowest infant mortality rate,” he said.
Bilawal acknowledged the country’s economic crisis and said wage earners were struggling to make ends meet. He said the PPP aimed to introduce policies to reduce the economic burden on citizens and was implementing former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto’s manifesto.
He criticized the government’s claims about development, saying the public remained dissatisfied with economic conditions. “The common man cannot afford the expenses of education and healthcare,” he said.
On privatization, Bilawal said the PPP favored a public-private partnership model. He cited projects such as the Sindh Engro Coal Mining Company and the ChildLife Foundation as successful examples, noting that The economist The magazine had ranked Sindh’s public-private partnership model sixth globally.
