ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, who is currently making efforts to revitalise party workers in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, met office bearers representing the city and district chapters of Faisalabad on Tuesday.
Bilawal is currently spearheading a campaign to meet district and tehsil level party workers in Punjab and KP provinces in order to resolve party differences and stabilise organisational matters.
The meetings, which lasted for over five hours, discussed a host of issues revolving around the party’s organisational matters, the prevailing political scenario and challenges the PPP faces.
The participants expressed grave concern over the plight of farmers in Punjab and stressed the need for evolving a strategy to rescue them from starvation at the hands of policies pursued by the PML-N regime.
PPP spokesperson Senator Farhatullah Babar said the meeting vowed to protect the vital interests of farmers from the myopic development model pursued by the PML-N government.
“Huge investments are being made in ‘showcase projects’ like metro bus, while the agriculture sector — so vital for national economy and social stability — is being neglected,” he said.
Speaking on the occasion, Bilawal said he will expand the scope of consultative meetings with party workers.
He also expressed grave concern over the deplorable condition of farmers and said he had “already directed party legislators to push the issue in the Parliament”.
Recalling that the last PPP government had fixed wheat support price at a level that brought unprecedented prosperity to farmers, Bilawal said the PPP government had set up the trading corporation and the rice corporation primarily to protect the interests of farmers.
“PPP will pursue its pro-farmers policies”.
The meeting also expressed concern over the route of newly proposed Lahore-Multan motorway, saying it passed through the most fertile areas of the province which if implemented would further destroy the agriculture sector.
PPP called for appropriate political measures to prevent the destruction of fertile lands in the province.
PPP Punjab President Mian Manzoor Wattoo briefed the meeting on the measures taken by the provincial and divisional chapters of the party for the forthcoming local government polls in the province.
Wattoo also highlighted the hapless condition of farmers in Punjab and stressed the need to reverse the anti-farmers policies pursued by the PML-N government.
The meetings were also attended by former prime ministers Yousuf Raza Gillani and Raja Pervez Ashraf, Senator Sherry Rehman, MNA Faryal Talpur, PPP’s Information Secretary Qamar Zaman Kaira and other party leaders.