Promises resettlement of displaced communities if party forms government in Gilgit-Baltistan
DIAMETER:
PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on Wednesday asked the federal government to expedite the completion of the Diamer-Bhasha Dam and pledged to resolve resettlement issues faced by communities displaced by the megaproject if his party wins the June 7 elections.
The Bhutto scion is touring Gilgit-Baltistan, where the PPP and other political parties have stepped up efforts in recent days to mobilize voters ahead of the elections.
At a public meeting in Diamer, Bilawal maintained that the project had progressed substantially under the PPP government. He maintained that the Bhasha-Diamer dam would already be operational if the government led by President Asif Ali Zardari had remained in office beyond 2013.
Bilawal regretted that concerns over the resettlement of people affected by the dam are yet to be resolved.
“I would like to promise you that after June 7, when the PPP forms a government in Britain, we will ensure that the work is done [completed] and as far as resettlement is concerned, we will address it immediately,” Bilawal said.
The construction of the Diamer-Bhasha dam has affected thousands of people in several villages. Displaced residents are demanding that the federal government compensate them for the land they gave up for the construction of the dam.
In February last year, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif constituted a seven-member committee to review the demands of the protesters and address their grievances.
The PPP chairman urged the Center to give priority to the construction of the dam. “This is not only the right of the people of Diamer, but it is a necessity for Pakistan,” he said.
“No project is more important for Pakistan right now than the Diamer-Bhasha Dam,” Bilawal stressed, calling on the prime minister to expedite work on the project.
“We have heard about your ‘Shehbaz speed’ in Lahore [..] “Please also show your ‘Shehbaz speed’ to the people of Diamer and ensure that the project is completed,” he quipped.
The Bhutto scion claimed that the PPP was the “only political party that looked after the interests of the people of Britain and had the faith of the people”. “On June 7, the people of GB will demonstrate their power and elect a jiyala prime minister,” he said.
Recalling the PPP’s contributions to the region, Bilawal said it was his father, President Zardari, who “gave GB its current identity as the region was earlier known as Northern Areas.”
Referring to the prevailing regional tensions, he said Pakistan needed a government “like the PPP that can look the world in the eye”, adding that they could only do so because the party was the “true representative of the Pakistani people”. He reiterated his commitment to “guarantee the constitutional rights of GB”, stressing that Islamabad must understand that “Pakistan can only prosper if the people of GB prosper”.
He promised that through the party’s public-private partnership initiatives, the region would not only meet its own energy needs but also supply electricity to other parts of the country.
“I am not here to air any grievance; it is not in our nature. Why was Quaid-e-Awam (former Prime Minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto) hanged or why was my mother (former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto) martyred?” [..] Have you ever heard me complain? or why my father was imprisoned for 14 years [..] We are not ones to complain; We only know how to recover our rights. So support me and I will not disappoint you,” Bilawal said while addressing the public meeting.
Taking a swipe at his coalition partner, PML-N, the PPP chairman questioned why rival political parties campaigning in Britain seemed worried.
