Bilawal Says Politics Is for Serving the People, Not Ruling Them

Pakistan Peoples Party Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has said that his party entered politics to serve the people, not to rule over them.

He was addressing a ceremony marking the completion of one million homes under the Sindh People’s Housing for Flood Rehabilitation scheme. He said the Sindh government had made history and that this was the largest housing project in the world.

Bilawal Bhutto said Pakistan and the world were passing through an economic crisis. In economic hardship and unemployment, he said, a home provides security.

He said the party had not only built houses but had also made people owners of their homes, calling it the largest land transfer project of its kind.

He said that people who did not have ownership rights had been made owners. Women in these households now hold ownership rights and bank accounts, he said, and the project is therefore not only about building homes but also about strengthening women. The houses have been transferred in women’s names, he added, and the one million homes will also create a major opportunity for employment.

Bilawal Bhutto said some politicians want to give relief to the wealthy class, whereas in his view relief should go to poor people, and this will allow the country to progress. He said the country will develop if it follows the needs of the poor man rather than the wishes of businesspeople and the rich.

He said the public is looking to political parties to solve their problems, not to fight among themselves.

Bilawal Bhutto further said that many areas of Sindh and Balochistan were affected by floods. He said the party had promised flood victims that it would build them homes, and that in three years it had built one million homes, with another one million to follow.

He said that during the floods federal ministers had opposed them. In Balochistan, he said, the federal government took responsibility, while in Sindh the party did. He said the federal government built 30,000 homes in three years, whereas the party built one million.

Bilawal Bhutto said he asked the Chief Minister of Sindh to have those monitoring corruption oversee this housing scheme, and he claimed that no corruption had taken place in the housing project.

He said that in the 2023 floods, educational institutions in Sindh were destroyed, and these institutions had been rebuilt again and again after every flood. Literacy in Sindh is low, he said, and many children are out of school.

Bilawal Bhutto thanked Shehbaz Sharif for supporting them. According to him, the prime minister before Sharif had not given even a single rupee for the floods.

He said he had met the Prime Minister and his team, where it was agreed that coordination between them would be further improved. The federation would fulfil its responsibilities, he said, and the party would fulfil its own.

Bilawal Bhutto said he prayed that the people in Islamabad would also think about serving the public rather than ruling.