Bilawal to make debut in electoral politics
Pakistan’s ruling PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari is expected to make his debut in electoral politics and the party’s public outreach campaign from Larkana in Sindh province on his mother Benazir Bhutto’s death anniversary on December 27.
Following this, 24-year-old Bilawal will tour several districts across Pakistan with the party’s central leadership in January and hold meetings with PPP leaders and workers, the Urdu daily Express reported on Monday.
Bilawal’s tour will begin from the Lyari area of Karachi, a traditional stronghold of the PPP. The daily quoted PPP sources as saying that Bilawal’s father, President Asif Ali Zardari, has been holding meetings with the PPP’s senior leadership regarding the country’s political situation and party affairs.
Zardari held extensive talks with party leaders during a visit to Multan last week, after which he directed Bilawal to take responsibility for the party’s “crucial matters,” the report said. A committee comprising former Premier Yousuf Raza Gilani, senior PPP leader Jahangir Badr and federal ministers Amin Fahim, Khurshid Shah, Naveed Qamar, Qamar Zaman Kaira, Manzoor Watto has been constituted to assist Bilawal.
Sindh Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah, Zardari’s sister Faryal Talpur and eight other senior PPP members are also part of this committee, which will decide on the strategy to be adopted during the general election expected to be held in March 2013.
