Lyari people welcome Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari with stones and angry chants

[Abdullah719]

Angry protesters disrupt Bilawal’s electoral campaign in Karachi

KARACHI: Angry protesters disrupted Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairperson Bilawal Bhutto Zardari’s electoral campaign in Lyari area of Karachi on Sunday.

The residents of Bihar Colony stopped Bilawal’s rally from travelling to Lyari and chanted slogans against him. Some disgruntled protesters also resorted to vandalism and broke the windows of a car, which was a part of PPP chief’s caravan.

Bilawal’s motorcade was eventually halted as his car started to heat-up, according to Geo News.

Speaking about the incident, PPP leader Yousaf Baloch told Geo News that protesters can never fall to the level that it did in Lyari.

"Those protesting do not belong to PPP," he remarked, adding that protesters belonged to their political rivals such as Muttahida Qaumi Movement among others.

Earlier in the day, Bilawal had reached Lyari and kicked off the party’s election campaign.

Upon arrival in Lyari, the Bhutto family scion stepped out of his car and chanted slogans. "I will fulfill all promises made in our manifesto," Bilawal vowed as he addressed supporters.

He added, "I will implement a programme through which people receive basic facilities on subsidised rates.

“The nation will stand by me for my first election," the PPP chairman said.

Bilawal will contest the upcoming general election, the first of his political career, from his party’s traditionally dominant National Assembly constituency in Lyari — NA-246.

The PPP chairman had visited Lyari on Saturday to inaugurate his election office in the area.

https://www.geo.tv/latest/201489-pp...ardari-kicks-off-election-campaign-from-lyari

 

[Bewal Express]

Angry protesters disrupt Bilawal’s electoral campaign in Karachi

KARACHI: Angry protesters disrupted Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairperson Bilawal Bhutto Zardari’s electoral campaign in Lyari area of Karachi on Sunday.

The residents of Bihar Colony stopped Bilawal’s rally from travelling to Lyari and chanted slogans against him. Some disgruntled protesters also resorted to vandalism and broke the windows of a car, which was a part of PPP chief’s caravan.

Bilawal’s motorcade was eventually halted as his car started to heat-up, according to Geo News.

Speaking about the incident, PPP leader Yousaf Baloch told Geo News that protesters can never fall to the level that it did in Lyari.

"Those protesting do not belong to PPP," he remarked, adding that protesters belonged to their political rivals such as Muttahida Qaumi Movement among others.

Earlier in the day, Bilawal had reached Lyari and kicked off the party’s election campaign.

Upon arrival in Lyari, the Bhutto family scion stepped out of his car and chanted slogans. "I will fulfill all promises made in our manifesto," Bilawal vowed as he addressed supporters.

He added, "I will implement a programme through which people receive basic facilities on subsidised rates.

“The nation will stand by me for my first election," the PPP chairman said.

Bilawal will contest the upcoming general election, the first of his political career, from his party’s traditionally dominant National Assembly constituency in Lyari — NA-246.

The PPP chairman had visited Lyari on Saturday to inaugurate his election office in the area.

https://www.geo.tv/latest/201489-pp...ardari-kicks-off-election-campaign-from-lyari

These promises remind me of the story about the Lion and the Donkey.

 

[Lonewarrior]

KARACHI: Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari’s convoy travelling to Lyari was pelted with stones as residents of Bihar Colony blocked his way in an attempt to delay his arrival at Lyari on Sunday.

The people also chanted slogans against the PPP. Media acquired footage shows that PPP workers reacted by throwing back stones at the protestors.

https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2018/07/01/lyari-people-welcome-bilawal-with-stones-and-angry-chants/

 

[Mian]

Well done

 

[PakWarrior]

Great news.

 

[slipcatch]

The guy who had never held a job in his life is running for the office.

Good job people of Karachi.

 

[MenInG]

An unidentified group of people stopped and pelted stones on the convoy of PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari as it passed through Karachi's Lyari neighbourhood during an election campaign rally on Sunday, DawnNewsTV reported.

The convoy was going from Baghdadi area to Juna Masjid when around 100 residents of the area began pelting stones in protest and raised slogans of "Go Bilawal go!". The windshield of a truck that was a part of the convoy was shattered during the violence.

Also read: PML-N MPA loses his cool when asked where he's been for the last 5 years

PPP leader Saeed Ghani, who was a part of the procession along with other senior leaders, said at least two party workers were injured when the rally was pelted with stones near Juna Masjid, Hangoorabad. A man identified as a rickshaw driver was also injured during the violence, DawnNewsTV reported.

Bilawal's driver escaped the scene by reversing the vehicle from the area and turning towards Kalri. The PPP chairman remained unhurt during the episode.

TV footage showed a group of supporters shouting pro-PPP slogans, and chants of "have some shame!"

PPP leaders said the rally had not abandoned after the incident, and that it was proceeding through an alternative route. Bilawal later addressed Lyari residents at Cheel Chowk and other stops.


Nabeel Gabol, another PPP leader said, "20 to 25 extremists" had attacked the rally with stones and suggested that the protesters had been sent by PPP's political opponents. He alleged that administration officials did not make efforts to stop the agitators from resorting to violence.

"It has always been a trend in Lyari, that 20-30 'planted' activists are sent by opponents [to create chaos]," Gabol said while speaking to DawnNewsTV.

The situation was controlled after a contingent of police that was deployed in the area dispersed the protesters.

Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari waves to supporters during the rally in Lyari. — AP
Meanwhile, DawnNewsTV reported that some residents later raised slogans of "Go Bilawal go" and "No more gang war!" as Bilawal's convoy passed through the Kalakot area.

Lyari is considered a traditional stronghold of the PPP and its chairman Bilawal is set to contest the July 25 general elections from the area's NA-246 constituency.

There is resentment among Lyari residents over the poor state of affairs in the area. They accuse the PPP of failing to solve their issues, such as that of water shortage, and completing infrastructure projects that were promised by the party, despite its candidates' election from the constituency since 2008. They are also reportedly unhappy over the award of party tickets by the PPP.

PTI, MQM-P react
Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf leader Faisal Vawda termed as "filmy" talk the suggestion by PPP leaders that his party may have egged the protesters on, saying any party, including the PTI, should have to face such a reaction if it hasn't worked for people's welfare.

He said while he does not support the use of violence, he strongly appreciates citizens voicing their grievances through protests.

Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan's Mehfooz Yar Khan, who is a candidate from NA-246 Lyari, also said he "strongly condemns" the suggestion that his party could have been behind the violence.

https://www.dawn.com/news/1417254/bilawals-convoy-pelted-with-stones-in-karachis-lyari-2-hurt

 

[Mian]

I will say achi kahsi chitrol honi chahiye in sab political leaders ki including PPP, PTI and PMLN 5 years baad he to nazer aate hen verna to mu he nae lagaate. I am loving the way voters are finally standing up and asking for their rights!

Vote se pehle voter ko izat do!!!

 

[Fineline]

Well deserved!ZAbout time,PPP is taken to the cleaners.

 

[PakWarrior]

I will say achi kahsi chitrol honi chahiye in sab political leaders ki including PPP, PTI and PMLN 5 years baad he to nazer aate hen verna to mu he nae lagaate. I am loving the way voters are finally standing up and asking for their rights!

Vote se pehle voter ko izat do!!!

Completely agree.

 

[giri26]

Bilawal served show-cause notice for violating code of conduct during Lyari visit

KARACHI: Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari was served a show-cause notice on Tuesday for violating the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) code of conduct during his Lyari visit.

The show-cause notice issued by deputy commissioner south stated that the PPP chairman had not informed district or police administration ahead of his rally in Lyari on July 1.

As per the notice, the ECP’s code of conduct makes it necessary for politicians to inform concerned authorities regarding their rallies three days in advance.

Bilawal has been asked to clarify his position by July 5 (Thursday).

Action would be taken as per law upon failure to submit a reply by the given date, the notice warned.

On Sunday, a group of protesters pelted Bilawal’s motorcade with stones in Lyari.

The residents of Bihar Colony stopped Bilawal’s rally from travelling to Lyari and chanted slogans against him. Some disgruntled protesters also resorted to vandalism and broke the windows of a car, which was a part of PPP chief’s caravan.

Bilawal’s motorcade was halted as his car started to heat up and was later forced to change the route of his electoral rally.

A first information report (FIR) was filed Sunday night against 400-450 unidentified persons, including 13 locals.

SSP City Samiullah Soomro on Monday said the location of the suspects had been traced by using their mobile numbers and that raids were under way to arrest them.

https://www.geo.tv/latest/201695-bi...-violating-code-of-conduct-during-lyari-visit

 

[MenInG]

THATTA, Pakistan (Reuters) - His mother was assassinated on the campaign trail and his grandfather was executed by a military dictator, but that has not prevented Bilawal Bhutto Zardari from seeking the job they both held: prime minister of Pakistan.

Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, chairman of the Pakistan People's Party (PPP), wearing a Sindhi topi hat, speaks to party workers on the roof of his bullet-proof bus, during a campaign rally ahead of general elections in District Thatta, Pakistan July 2, 2018. Picture taken July 2, 2018. REUTERS/Akhtar Soomro
Oxford-educated and single, 29-year-old Bhutto Zardari is campaigning himself for the first time, traversing the sprawling plains of his native Sindh province to try to revive the fortunes of his struggling, left-of-center Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) ahead of a July 25 general election.

He was still in university when his mother, two-time prime minister Benazir Bhutto, was assassinated in 2007 as she campaigned to restore democracy after military rule. Her father, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, also a prime minister, was hanged after being deposed in a military coup.

“I didn’t choose this life, I didn’t actively go out and pursue it. My mother always used to say that she didn’t choose this life, it chose her. In the same way I feel like it applies to me,” Bhutto Zardari told Reuters, as he stood on the roof of his open-top, 20-foot-high bullet-proof bus.

Asked if he is ever afraid while campaigning, he answered briefly: “No”. He then pivoted to discussing a “climate of fear” in the lead-up to the elections that some activists blame on Pakistan’s powerful military.

In one of the first interviews since being named the PPP’s prime ministerial candidate, he also criticized fellow Oxford graduate and opposition leader Imran Khan - a potential coalition partner.

Flanked by supporters on either side of the single-lane highway, Bhutto Zardari was showered with rose petals as he waved to thousands of people who waited to catch a glimpse of the youngest of the political dynasty that many call the Pakistani equivalent of the Kennedys.

Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, chairman of the Pakistan People's Party (PPP), receives a rose-petal welcome from supporters as he heads for a campaign rally ahead of general elections on the outskirts of Karachi, Pakistan July 2, 2018. Picture taken July 2, 2018. REUTERS/Akhtar Soomro
Despite the feel-good feeling in the crowds, election time is always tense in Pakistan, which has been ruled by the military for almost half of the 70 years since independence.

The outgoing Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government has accused the military and courts of playing a role in the ouster of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif last year and helping Imran Khan’s PTI political party.

Khan, a former cricket captain of Pakistan, denies the accusation and calls the PML-N a graft-ridden “mafia”.

And overshadowing all this is the fear that the election is being engineered by the “establishment”, a euphemism for Pakistan’s much feared military and intelligence top brass, along with some senior civil servants and judges.

The military has repeatedly denied that it interferes in modern-day politics.

“I think that there is absolutely a history in Pakistan of an over-active role for our establishment and the Pakistan Peoples Party firmly believes that should not be the case,” Bhutto Zardari said, when asked about the military’s involvement in politics.

“There is absolutely a feeling that certain candidates are feeling pressurized, are feeling certain political parties are being supported in ways that they shouldn’t be,” he said. “I believe everyone should believe in the people of Pakistan, trust the people of Pakistan to make their own choices.”

Slideshow (8 Images)
POWER BROKER
Bhutto Zardari’s convoy started in the town of Thatta, the medieval capital of Sindh, and was later headed north to the Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces, hoping to revive the vote base it lost in the 2013 polls, when it finished second.

A Gallup nationwide poll in March put his party’s popularity at 17 percent, with Khan’s PTI at 24 percent and Sharif’s PML-N at 36 percent.

One of the party’s challenges is overcoming the image of Bhutto Zardari’s father, former President Asif Ali Zardari. Some analysts and party insiders say numerous corruption allegations against Zardari could cost the party at the polls, where it will contrast with Imran Khan’s relentless anti-graft message.

Zardari spent 11 years in jail on charges of corruption and murder, but was never convicted. He has always maintained his innocence and remains a party leader and adviser to his son.

Although Bhutto Zardari is campaigning to become prime minister, many political analysts believe the PPP may at best become a power broker if no party wins a clear majority, as seems likely.

He has indicated he would be willing to join a possible coalition government, although he did not say whether he would prefer the PML-N or Khan’s PTI.

He said Khan’s socially conservative PTI was “peddling the politics of hate, of polarization, the politics of divisiveness”.

“It may win Imran Khan an election but it has disastrous consequences for the youth of Pakistan and for Pakistan’s society,” Bhutto Zardari said.

He has been quoted in local media as calling the PML-N “cruel rulers” and saying that it had “decided to eliminate the poor, and not poverty.”

Bhutto Zardari said his ambitions were not just about becoming prime minister, but bringing back the policies that were dear to his mother.

On the campaign trail, he frequently mentions her in his speeches.

“We have to keep B.B.’s promise. We have to save Pakistan,” he says in Urdu, the national language, using the initials by which his mother was commonly known.

“There is no greater sense of fulfillment in a son’s life than to feel like he is continuing with his mother’s incomplete missions,” he said.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-...but-campaigns-to-be-pakistan-pm-idUSKBN1JT15L

 

[mmkextreme_1]

I just can't believe this guy is even running. He doesn't even know how to speak the language properly.

Regardless, he's more than likely to win, the only thing one can hope for is that he is MUCH better than his predecessors.

 

[Arham_PakFan]

It’s good that people are finally standing up to the hukmaraan.

 

[Abdullah719]

Only PPP can resolve Lyari’s water shortage issue, says Aseefa

Aseefa Bhutto Zardari, a sister of PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, has said she knows well that the issue of water supply exists in Lyari, and only the Pakistan Peoples Party possesses the capability to resolve this public issue.

Speaking to women activists of the party during a visit to Lyari on Monday, she said the PPP would emerge victorious in the upcoming general elections. Sanam Bhutto, sister of the late prime minister Benazir Bhutto, accompanied her during the visit to Lyari, where Bilawal is contesting elections.

On their arrival, both were given a warm reception by party activists, who chanted slogans in favour of Bilawal. Aseefa also visited the central election office of Bilawal in the area, and reviewed progress in conducting the electioneering campaign.

She said that even the option of desalination of sea water could be utilised in order to resolve the water issue in Lyari on a permanent basis. She urged the women activists of the party to conduct a door-to-door campaign in the locality to spread the political message of Bilawal and former president Asif Ali Zardari among the masses.

She said that the previous PPP government in the province had established units at eight spots of the city, including one in Lyari, to treat on an emergency basis patients of chest pain.

She said that the previous PPP government had established Benazir Bhutto Trauma Centre at the Civil Hospital Karachi for providing free medical services.

https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/34...olve-lyari-s-water-shortage-issue-says-aseefa

 

[Abdullah719]

^^^ Yeah, right

 

[Abdullah719]

Lyari building collapse death toll climbs to 19

KARACHI: The death toll in the Lyari building collapse tragedy reached 19 as rescue workers pulled 13 more bodies from the rubble on Tuesday, officials said.

Moreover, there are fears that more people may be trapped under the debris.

The rescue operation, which the authorities earlier claimed would be completed in 24 hours, continued till late Tuesday evening.

“Total 19 bodies have been recovered and all of them were moved to the Civil Hospital Karachi where their families have identified them,” said DIG-South Sharjeel Kharal.

Spoiler

However, there was no word from the authorities about the expected time of completion of the operation to remove the rubble and then demolish other vulnerable structures in the same neighbourhood.

Area people and legislators, mostly from the opposition parties in Sindh, had claimed that 27 people were inside the building at the time of its collapse and they were missing following the incident.

“The local administration and all other relevant authorities are well aware of this fact. The ill-prepared civic administration and narrow lanes of the area make things difficult,” said an area resident.

The office of the Sindh police surgeon identified 17 bodies as that of 50-year-old Fahmida, Faheem, 32, Salma, 45, Jamila, 35, Siraj, 30, Noor Mohammad alias Babu, 50, Shahid, 30, Maryam, 11, Shehnaz, 45, Memona, 25, Shahzad, 20, Saeed, 26, Taufiq, 55, Bahar, 25, Kaleem Ahmed, 60, Saleem alias Sani, 30, and Shaukat, 30.

Two bodies are yet to be identified.

Meanwhile, a meeting at the office of the Karachi commissioner decided to lodge cases across the city against illegal constructions.

Sindh Minister for Information and Local Government Syed Nasir Hussain Shah while chairing the meeting said that the government would not allow anyone to play with the lives of citizens and no compromise would be made.

He asked the Sindh Building Control Authority chief, Naseem ul Ghani, to identify illegal structures in the city and lodge FIRs against builders concerned.

“The commissioner briefed the minister that the SBCA had issued notices to the residents of dangerous buildings for immediate evacuation. The DG-SBCA informed the minister that most of the dangerous buildings are in Old City Area and few of them have been declared as heritage,” the statement said.

The minster ordered a vigilance committee in every district for identification of dangerous and illegal buildings in their area.

The committee would be consisting of representatives from district municipal corporations, SBCA, Karachi Development Authority and police.

https://www.dawn.com/news/1562453/lyari-building-collapse-death-toll-climbs-to-19

 

[Bewal Express]

Only PPP can resolve Lyari’s water shortage issue, says Aseefa

Aseefa Bhutto Zardari, a sister of PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, has said she knows well that the issue of water supply exists in Lyari, and only the Pakistan Peoples Party possesses the capability to resolve this public issue.

Speaking to women activists of the party during a visit to Lyari on Monday, she said the PPP would emerge victorious in the upcoming general elections. Sanam Bhutto, sister of the late prime minister Benazir Bhutto, accompanied her during the visit to Lyari, where Bilawal is contesting elections.

On their arrival, both were given a warm reception by party activists, who chanted slogans in favour of Bilawal. Aseefa also visited the central election office of Bilawal in the area, and reviewed progress in conducting the electioneering campaign.

She said that even the option of desalination of sea water could be utilised in order to resolve the water issue in Lyari on a permanent basis. She urged the women activists of the party to conduct a door-to-door campaign in the locality to spread the political message of Bilawal and former president Asif Ali Zardari among the masses.

She said that the previous PPP government in the province had established units at eight spots of the city, including one in Lyari, to treat on an emergency basis patients of chest pain.

She said that the previous PPP government had established Benazir Bhutto Trauma Centre at the Civil Hospital Karachi for providing free medical services.

https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/34...olve-lyari-s-water-shortage-issue-says-aseefa

How long do the PPP need? They have had 12 years!