Bilawal calls for faster work on Diamer-Bhasha Dam during GB campaign

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Peoples Party Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on Wednesday urged the federal government to speed up completion of the Diamer-Bhasha Dam and said his party would move immediately on resettlement issues faced by people displaced by the project if the PPP forms the government in Gilgit-Baltistan after the June 7 elections.

Bilawal made the remarks while addressing a public gathering in Diamer during his visit to Gilgit-Baltistan, where the PPP and other political parties have intensified campaigning ahead of the polls. He said the project had made significant progress during the PPP government and argued that the dam would already have been functional if the administration led by then president Asif Ali Zardari had continued beyond 2013.

He also said the concerns of people affected by the project had still not been settled.

"I would like to promise you that after June 7 - when PPP forms government in G-B - we will ensure that the work is [completed] and as far as resettlement is concerned, we will address it on an immediate basis," Bilawal said addressing residents.

The construction of the Diamer-Bhasha Dam has affected thousands of people in several villages. Those displaced have been demanding compensation from the federal government for land acquired for the project. In February last year, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif formed a seven-member committee to examine the protesters’ demands and address their grievances.

Call to prioritise dam project

Bilawal said the Centre should place the dam project at the top of its agenda, describing it as both the right of the people of Diamer and a national requirement. He said no other project currently held greater importance for Pakistan and asked Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to accelerate progress on it.

"We have heard of your 'Shehbaz speed' in Lahore [..] please show your 'Shehbaz speed' to the people of Diamer as well and ensure that the project is completed," he said referring to the premier’s reputation for rapid execution of development work.

Bilawal also told the gathering that the PPP was the only political party safeguarding the interests of the people of Gilgit-Baltistan and enjoying their trust. He said the June 7 vote would show the strength of the region’s electorate and expressed hope that voters would elect a jiyala chief minister.

PPP campaign in Gilgit-Baltistan

During his speech, Bilawal referred to what he described as the PPP’s role in the region, saying it was his father, President Asif Ali Zardari, who gave Gilgit-Baltistan its current identity and that the area had previously been called the Northern Areas.

He said Pakistan needed a government like the PPP amid current regional tensions, adding that the party could face the world confidently because it was, in his words, the true representative of the Pakistani people. He also repeated his commitment to securing Gilgit-Baltistan’s constitutional rights and said Islamabad needed to recognise that Pakistan could only prosper if the people of Gilgit-Baltistan prospered.

Bilawal further pledged that, through public-private partnership initiatives, Gilgit-Baltistan would not only fulfil its own energy requirements but would also be able to provide electricity to other parts of the country.

In his address, he also said he had not come to complain and referred to the execution of former prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, the killing of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, and his father’s imprisonment, saying his party’s politics was about reclaiming rights rather than airing grievances. He asked the public to support him and said he would not disappoint them.

Bilawal also took aim at the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, the PPP’s coalition partner at the Centre, by questioning why rival parties campaigning in Gilgit-Baltistan appeared concerned.