Bilawal criticizes PML-N for presenting public buses as personal gifts, urges AJK voters to support PPP

PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on Sunday criticized Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) for presenting publicly funded buses as personal gifts, while making a final appeal to voters of Mirpur Division to support the party’s ‘arrow’ symbol in the first phase of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Legislative Assembly elections held on Monday (tomorrow).

“These buses are not a gift from anyone; they are a right of the people,” Bilawal said in a special message broadcast from Islamabad on the eve of the elections.

Stating that the PPP had achieved practical development rather than simply making promises, he criticized what he described as politically expedient development announcements, saying that projects funded by taxpayers’ money should not be presented as personal gifts by political leaders.

Launching a political attack on the PML-N, Bilawal said the people of “Kashmir and Kashmir, Mirpur and Mirpur Khas” shared the same spirit of standing up for their rights and would not allow anyone to undermine their claim to their land or their future.

He claimed that just as the PML-N had been rejected by voters in previous elections in Kashmir and Kashmir, the electorate would repeat that verdict in the current elections.

Bilawal described the elections as a referendum on the rights, development and future of AJK.

He urged voters to give the PPP a strong mandate, pledging that the party would not compromise the rights of the people of AJK and would continue its fight to secure what he described as sovereignty, property and employment rights for Kashmiris.

“The people of Mirpur sacrificed their homes and lands for the Mangla Dam and thanks to those sacrifices a large part of Pakistan was electrified,” he said.

“No one can deny that the people of AJK have equal interest in the region’s resources, decisions and future,” Bilawal said, adding that Pakistan owed Mirpur a debt for its sacrifices rather than doing it a favour.

Read: Bilawal vows to protect AJK’s rights, accuses PML-N of pursuing ‘anti-Kashmir’ agenda

He argued that the people of AJK should enjoy the same fundamental rights as all Pakistani citizens, including what he called sovereignty, property and employment rights.

Bilawal also called for the immediate establishment of a specific compensation fund for those affected by the recent violence, saying such measures would help restore public confidence and normalcy.

He concluded by urging the voters of Mirpur Division to stamp the arrow symbol and vote for the development, prosperity and protection of rights of the people of Azad Kashmir.