Daily Times

The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Saturday announced its detailed manifesto, presenting its plans for the people of Pakistan if it assumes power after a victory in the upcoming general elections on February 8.

Taking to X, formerly Twitter, party chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari shared the PPP manifesto, named “Chuno Nai Soch Ko” (Choose new thinking), directing his followers to visit a website to access the document.

“The PPP is the only party with a plan to combat poverty, unemployment & inflation,” he wrote in his post on X.

The manifesto mainly focuses on dealing with poverty and providing facilities to the working and lower class. It also outlines the healthcare facilities, education, food security and women’s empowerment.

The PPP also promised to double the real incomes of wage earners by ensuring growth, investments and job creation as a real-time priority. It said that the minimum wage will be increased in real terms by 8% every year to take it to the living wage.

The manifesto said that the PPP has always seen housing as a right, hence, it will provide homeownership for the most vulnerable including the poor, landless, and working classes.

The Bilawal-led party will also launch the “Bhook Mitao Programme” which will ensure food security, by aiming to make nutritious food available at affordable prices, boost domestic production, subsidise local producers, and connect women with the market economy as active entrepreneurs.

According to the party’s manifesto, PPP will issue labour cards for the country’s labour class. Through this card, the working class can pay their children’s school fees, avail health insurance and obtain old age benefits. The PPP, as per the party’s manifesto, will provide a stipend for one year through the Youth Card to educated young men and women. The party, once back in power, will also issue a Haari Kisan card ot provide subsidies on DAP and urea fertilizer, crop insurance will also be available through it.

Meanwhile, small loans will be given to poor women through the Waseela-e-Haq programme.

The party had earlier announced a 10-point agenda for the manifesto.

Separately, Bilawal on Saturday squarely blamed the PML-N and the PTI for the current economic mess, saying the two groups sowed hatred and division by turning their political differences into personal enmity, driving a wedge in society to the detriment of the country, economy and every Pakistani.

Addressing an election rally in Peshawar, Bilawal expressed gratitude for the rousing welcome he received upon his arrival in Peshawar.

Currently on a whirlwind tour of the four provinces ahead of the Feb 8 elections, Bilawal mentioned that he had already addressed 10 conventions in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

As the polling day draws closer, Bilawal questioned those who advocate for postponing the electoral exercise using excuses of chilly weather and security concerns, wondering about the motives behind such suggestions.

He highlighted that PPP leaders, on nationwide tours, faced similar security threats, but they did not feel scared or threatened as they were loyalists of Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and Shaheed Benazir Bhutto.

Bilawal acknowledged that the country was surrounded by perils, with issues of unemployment, inflation and poverty intensifying daily. He said the severity of the circumstances the nation was in was unprecedented: on one hand, Pakistan faces a severe economic crisis, on the other hand, terrorism is spreading its tentacles again.

The PPP chairman blamed the PML-N and the PTI for the current economic mess, saying the two parties indulged in hate and divisive politics, driving a wedge in society to the detriment of the country, economy and every Pakistani.

Bilawal asserted his desire to lead Pakistan into the new politics of 2024, contrasting it with opponents who cling to old politics reminiscent of the 1990s. He also emphasised that the PPP did not copy-paste its manifesto, unlike other political parties. Bilawal identified inflation, poverty and unemployment as the three biggest challenges facing Pakistan and pledged that upon assuming power, his party would overcome these challenges.