Bilawal Bhutto: 'Pakistan needs an end to divisive politics'

DW (English)

The 35-year-old leader of the Pakistan People's Party has been on an election trail for weeks. As the country gears up for February 8 polls, DW's Shamil Shams caught up with him during a rally in Karachi.

Transcript

00:00 Many people are quite cynical about the outcome of the elections

00:05 because they think that the results have been pre-decided.

00:10 Do you agree with this perception which is quite prevalent in Pakistan at the moment?

00:14 I think that as you can see I'm fighting an election campaign.

00:21 I've just been on the road for 10 hours in Karachi continuously

00:25 and I visited all four provinces.

00:28 So surely if I thought that the elections were already decided

00:32 perhaps I wouldn't have put so much effort into it.

00:35 Surely there is a political party who is trying to give the impression

00:40 that they've already become Prime Minister and they don't need to wait for February 8th.

00:44 But I have faith in the people of Pakistan and I believe that there's many a sip

00:48 between the cup and the lip as far as our elections are concerned.

00:52 And I'm hopeful that the Pakistan People's Party will outperform expectations on February 8th.

00:59 Is your message, and you have been rallying for such a long time, for weeks now,

01:05 you have been moving from one city to another,

01:08 is your message resonating with the youth of Pakistan

01:11 because they make up a very big part of the voters now?

01:17 They do make up a significant percent of our population.

01:23 My message is not just for the youth of Pakistan, it's for every Pakistani.

01:27 And I'm appealing to the people of Pakistan to bury the politics of hatred and division

01:35 and choose a path which allows for us to address the real issues.

01:43 We're going through a severe economic crisis at the moment in Pakistan

01:48 with inflation, unemployment, poverty rising day by day.

01:53 And these are the issues of everyday Pakistanis.

01:57 Unfortunately, my two main political rivals, whether it's the PTI or the Muslim League,

02:05 are practicing the politics of hatred and division.

02:09 And I believe that if this sort of old-school politics continues the way it's going,

02:14 then no matter who forms government, they won't be able to address

02:18 the issues that really matter to the people of Pakistan.

02:22 Which is why I am promising to the people of Pakistan that I will bury this politics forever.

02:27 I am proposing that we form a Truth and Reconciliation Commission

02:31 to address all past grievances, to allow the truth to come forward,

02:36 but more importantly for us to have a reconciliation process

02:41 so that we can move forward and not be stuck in the past.

02:45 But there's a lot of rights violations at the moment.

02:50 I'm not saying this, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan is saying.

02:53 The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan is always saying.

02:56 There's nothing unique about the fact that the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan

02:59 is saying what they're saying.

03:01 And if you compare what the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan was saying in 2018,

03:05 I imagine it was much the same.

03:07 And if you compare what they were saying in 2013, I imagine it was much the same.

03:11 That's why I want to break with this tradition, this sort of rupt that Pakistan has fallen into,

03:17 where we see the same sort of vicious cycle of political events,

03:22 but very little progress for the people of Pakistan.

03:25 So that's exactly our message, that we want to end this cycle in Pakistani politics

03:32 that has been very counterproductive.

03:34 Should you come to power, how do you see Pakistan's ties with the West?

03:38 Because they have been pretty damaged, especially during former Prime Minister Imran Khan's tenure.

03:44 Should you come to power, would you like to repair it? How do you see it?

03:48 I've already served as Foreign Minister of Pakistan for 16 months,

03:54 and in that time I did my best to improve relations not only with the West,

03:59 but all over the world, because Pakistan's standing internationally

04:05 had been damaged by some of our own decisions.

04:08 Ultimately, if we are to be a functioning modern state that engages with the world,

04:17 we have to deal with many of our internal problems.

04:21 We have to resolve our own issues and get out of this cycle of political instability

04:30 that we are caught in at the moment.

04:32 The world wants to engage with Pakistan, can engage with Pakistan,

04:36 but they want us to get our act in order first.

04:39 No one is willing to invest in a country which is so unpredictable.

04:43 No one wants to invest in a country where they see that there will be political turbulence,

04:50 there will be political instability, and resultantly there won't be economic stability.

04:55 As far as engaging the West is concerned,

04:58 I believe that Pakistan does need to create convergences with the West as well,

05:06 with Europe, with America.

05:08 One such topic could be climate change.

05:10 Pakistan is at the forefront of the climate crisis.

05:13 The largest collection of snow and ice after the North and South Polar

05:18 in the Himalayan region of Pakistan.

05:20 Which means that the 250 million people of Pakistan are first in danger of facing perpetual floods,

05:26 and then they are in danger of facing perpetual drought.

05:28 Thank you Mr. Bhutto Zardari for your time for DW.

05:31 DW.

05:33 [BLANK_AUDIO]

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