PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari addresses participants of the Awami Long March. Photo courtesy PPP Media Cell
PPP chairman unveils 38-point charter of demands, including free-and-fair elections; unionization rights; and the expansion of social welfare programs
The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) launched its “Awami Long March” on the federal capital from Sindh capital Karachi on Sunday, with party Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari declaring it the start of a “war against Prime Minister Imran Khan and his government.”
Launched from Quaid-e-Azam’s mausoleum in Karachi, the long march attracted hundreds, including women and children, with Bhutto-Zardari unveiling a 38-point charter of demands and urging unity within the opposition ranks to oust the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) from power.
Addressing the march’s participants in Karachi, Bhutto-Zardari thanked people for coming out on the PPP’s call to register their protest against the PTI government. Noting that the past three years of “incompetence” had forced the people of the city to protest, he stressed that Prime Minister Imran Khan’s policies had “plundered” the rights of the people of Sindh and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.
Repeatedly describing the prime minister as “selected”—referring to the opposition’s stance that the PTI was “imposed” on the country through electoral rigging—the PPP chairman said Khan had “violated” the people’s right to vote. Claiming the PPP always granted people their rights when it was in power, he recalled that provincial autonomy had been ensured under the 18th Amendment to the Constitution
“This government has attacked our democracy,” he said. “It has attacked our economy and human rights. We will complete the mission of [Zulfikar Ali Bhutto] and Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto and defend the 1973 Constitution, the rights of the people and the economy of this country,” he added.
Charter of demands
Describing the PTI government as a “fascist regime” that had attempted to gag the opposition before turning its sights on the media and freedom of expression, he said it had made Pakistan one of the most corrupt countries in the world. “The Transparency International has declared the PTI government as the most corrupt government in history,” he said.
“It is impossible to achieve anything while this ‘puppet’ is in the government and the ‘PTIMF’ [PTI and IMF] deal is in place. The time has come to bring a no-confidence motion against Imran Khan and send him home,” he added.
In his charter of demands, the PPP chief called for free and fair elections at all tiers of government; constitutional governance, adherence to the principle of trichotomy of power and all institutions performing their functions and duties as prescribed under the Constitution; strengthening of Parliament and its committees; revision of the role of the parliamentary committee on judicial appointments to the superior courts as envisaged by the Constitution; and a truly independent Election Commission of Pakistan.
The party also seeks ensuring the rule of law and an independent and accountable judiciary; the right of all workers, and students, to form unions; assurance of the right to freedom of expression, including ending the formal and “unannounced” censorship of print and electronic media and legislating the independence of the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority in accordance to the recommendation of the media commission report.
The PPP has demanded that all “draconian” provisions of the cybercrime law be repealed and called for the enactment of a data protection law to cover all public bodies.
The charter also calls for the expansion of the Benazir Income Support Program to cover all women and men in need, as well as an equality commission to ensure a fair pay and job policy across the board for women and minorities in consultation with all provinces. It stresses the effective implementation of legislation on violence against women; domestic violence; acid attacks and sexual harassment as well as right to equal and safe access of all to public spaces, transport, and facilities.
The PPP has also called for implementing the constitutional promise of compulsory education up till the age of 16 and right to affordable healthcare services through a network of public hospitals and enlisted private hospitals. It wants effective legislation and enforcement of legislation against enforced conversions of religious minorities; a guarantee of protection of provincial autonomy and entitlements granted by the 18th Amendment as well as by the Constitution generally, such as the NFC award.
The party’s charter of demands also seeks a national consensus on guaranteeing the rights of Baloch people; the effective implementation of Article 158 of the Constitution pertaining to the ownership and use of petroleum resources by provinces; effective implementation of the National Action Plan against violent extremists; and creation of a new province of South Punjab.
The PPP has demanded fiscal autonomy for the people of Gilgit-Baltistan and Pakistan-administered; a “living wage” for all workers by increasing the national minimum wage; social protections for workers in the informal sectors of the economy; a new framework for agricultural prices and subsidies based on ensuring the right to food security and stable prices and incomes for rural and urban Pakistanis alike. It has also called for the impoverished to have legally protected rights to housing and protection from arbitrary eviction; as well as the regularization of irregular settlements through a legal framework, with all civic amenities and legal protections extended to them.
After traveling for more than eight hours, the caravan stopped at Sujawal, where Bhutto-Zardari addressed the gathered crowds, before concluding the day at Matli. On Monday morning, the march resumed with the PPP’s Media Cell saying it would travel to Hyderabad via Tando Muhammad Khan. The PPP chairman is set to address the crowds once his caravan reached Hyderabad.
The long march, per an earlier itinerary issued by the PPP, is scheduled to continue for 10 days while passing through 34 different towns and cities. It would conclude in Islamabad around March 8 with a rally in the federal capital. The PPP has already announced that it would not stage any dharna or sit-in.