Zulfikar Bhutto Jr announces intensions to establish a new political party

LAHORE: Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Jr., the grandson of former prime minister and PPP founder Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, has announced plans to form a new political party to protect the rights of farmers.

Addressing a press conference at the Lahore Press Club on Friday, Bhutto Jr. said the party’s main objective would be to represent and support the agricultural community, which is the backbone of Pakistan’s economy, The News reported.

Civil society activists as well as members of Anjuman Mazareen Punjab Dr. Ammar Ali Jan, Ghulam Abbas and others were also present on the occasion.

Bhutto Jr. is the son of the late Mir Murtaza Bhutto, who founded the PPP Shaheed Bhutto in 1993. Murtaza was also a member of the Sindh Assembly from Larkana from 1993 to 1996.

Bhutto Jr. said that the PPP has failed to implement Bhuttoism and said that his party will follow the philosophy of Zulfikar Bhutto and raise the slogan of ‘Jai Awam’.

He said that it is the need of the hour that the people should be divided according to the spirit of power and all steps should be taken for the welfare of the workers and farmers.

In response to a question, ZAB Jr. said that when it comes to provincial autonomy, he firmly believes that there should be no compromise on the 18th Amendment to the Constitution.

Regarding the project to construct six canals from the Indus River in the Cholistan region, he said that Sindh is already facing severe water shortage and this project will further reduce Sindh’s share of water. He stressed the need for a national water distribution framework after the Sindh Accord.

Zeb Jr. rejected the ‘Green Pakistan’ initiative and said that farmers’ lands are being reclaimed in the name of so-called development. He said that farmers are being exploited in the name of corporate farming and large-scale land has been leased, which means that farmers are losing their ownership.

On this occasion, civil society activist Dr. Ammar Ali Jan and farmer leader Ghulam Abbas also expressed concern over the loan repayment notices issued to farmers by the government. They demanded that the exploitation of farmers should end through public-private partnerships.

It is worth mentioning that after the Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA), a new political party led by the grandson of PPP founder Zulfikar Ali Bhutto could prove to be a test for the PPP, which has been in power in Sindh continuously since 2008.

Although the GDA, despite comprising some senior political leaders of Sindh including Arbab Ghulam Rahim, Dr. Zulfiqar Mirza and Dr. Safdar Abbasi, could not prove a potential threat to the PPP led by Asif Zardari. Now, with Bilawal Bhutto representing the new generation of leaders, an interesting political scenario is expected in Sindh.