KARACHI: Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on Friday condemned the crackdown on peasants and farmers in Islamabad and termed it “a dictatorial action” by the Nawaz Sharif government.
Announcing his support for the protest and demands of farmers, the PPP chairman said that peasantry had been destroyed economically by the PML-N government that had proved to be the worst enemy of agriculture, which “is continuously registering minus growth”.
He said that shelling and baton-charge on innocent farmers were part of the Sharif brothers’ anti-farmers policy, as they had been ignoring growers and facilitating protests of banned organisations in the capital city.
“The brutal torture of farmers in Islamabad has again exposed Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar as a remnant of dictatorship,” he added.
Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said that farmers and growers always prospered during the PPP’s tenures, but Nawaz Sharif snatched smiles from their faces. “Farmers demanding bardana (gunny bags) in Islamabad have every right to exercise their democratic right to protest against injustices,” he added.
The PPP chairman said that his party would restore all the rights of farmers after coming into power and continue to promote and stabilise the agriculture sector.
Meanwhile, inaugurating the Senate Hall of Sindh Madressatul Islam University (SMIU), Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said that extremist wanted to divide the nation on the bases of religion and culture. “As we fight against an extremist mindset within and outside our borders, it is up to our teachers to imbue into their students the true ideals of tolerance,” the PPP chairman stated. Quoting Nelson Mandela, he said, “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.”
He said that he was hard-pressed to find a truer example of Mandela’s words than the Sindh Madrassatul Islam. “This is the institution that educated some of the most renowned soldiers, dedicated educationalists, fine jurists and visionary leaders who went on to change the course of history of this nation and its people. And not only that, but change the very map of the world. For Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah himself studied at this campus, in addition to other luminaries, including Sir Abdullah Haroon, Sir Ghulam Hussain Hidayatullah, Khan Bahadur Mohammad Ayub Khuhro and Shaikh Abdul Majid Sindhi, just to name a few,” he said. “Today, as I stand here, at the threshold of one of the oldest institutions of modern knowledge in the subcontinent, I am both humbled and filled with pride… I take pride in the fact that I am a descendent of Khan Bahadur Hasanali Effendi and Sir Shahnawaz Bhutto, the founder of this illustrious institution and one of its finest students who dedicated his life to the fight for Pakistan.”
The PPP chairman applauded the efforts of Vice Chancellor Dr Mohammad Ali Shaikh for creating a learning environment conducive to the growth and development of its students, the teachers for providing an opportunity to share their knowledge and experiences with the future generations, and the students themselves dedicated to honing their minds and practical skills, which “will serve to bring Pakistan on a par with other developed and modern nations”.
