PPP will only talk about making alliances once election schedule is announced, says Bilawal

Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari has said that he will only be able to comment on making “alliances” with other political parties once the election schedule is announced.

Addressing a press conference in Okara on Monday, the former foreign minister yet again demanded the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to announce the poll date so that the party can prepare and commence its election campaign accordingly.

“It is our request to the ECP to announce the election schedule,” the PPP chief said.

In response to a question pertaining to the prospects of political alliances in the upcoming elections, Bilawal accentuated that the issue of alliances can only be addressed once the election schedule is announced.

Read more: Delimitations to be completed by November 30 to ensure ‘early’ elections: ECP

Expressing his views on Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s (PML-N) supremo Nawaz Sharif’s expected return, Bilawal said: “Mian Sahib’s return has been a long-standing demand of the PPP.”

The ex-foreign minister also categorically refuted the rumours pertaining to the PPP being pushed to the wall.

“The PPP is not being pushed to the wall […] we didn’t even back out from the 2007-8 elections,” the party chairman also said.

With regards to the issue of a “level playing field”, Bilawal said: “Former president Asif Ali Zardari has been tasked with addressing his party’s reservations with regard to the level playing field.”

Separately, Bilawal conveyed his “best wishes” to newly-appointed Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Justice Qazi Faez Isa.

He also lauded the new CJP’s gesture of inviting his wife, Sarina Isa, on stage during the oath-taking ceremony held in the President’s House on Sunday.

It is pertinent to know that the PPP chief has repeatedly echoed his party’s central executive committee’s (CEC) demand for an “immediate announcement of election date and schedule”.

Last week, following his party’s CEC meeting Bilawal read out the resolution passed by his party that stressed the need for the announcement of the poll date for “dampening down a cycle of chronic political instability”.