Bilawal Bhutto alleges phased-AJK elections aimed at rigging

Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has said that the country's system has not failed on its own but has been deliberately weakened, arguing that it cannot function properly until the people's authority is recognised.

Addressing a public gathering in Bagh district of Azad Jammu and Kashmir, Bilawal said, "The system will continue in this way until it is accepted that the source of power is the people."

He said that if the creation of new provinces was the decision of the public, the PPP would support the move, but if it did not represent the people's will, the party would not back it.

Bilawal claimed that the government in Islamabad was facing difficulties and that a "countdown" had begun. He said the countdown had not been initiated by the PPP but by members within the government's own ranks.

He said the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N)'s dispute was not with the PPP, but that the real conflict was elsewhere. He alleged that some people around the Prime Minister did not have sincere intentions and wanted to create tensions between the Prime Minister, the opposition and coalition partners.

He added that the actual dispute was between Islamabad and Lahore and described it as an internal family matter.

Bilawal also alleged that attacks on PPP candidates and the party's Azad Kashmir president were unacceptable, saying such actions could not be carried out by an ally. He said the party would not accept "rigged and violent elections".

He criticised what he described as the PML-N's belief that it could form a government in Muzaffarabad, saying the party was neither willing to establish a truth commission nor conduct transparent elections. He added that if the system had failed, Azad Kashmir was a major example of it.

The PPP chairman said Kashmir had never faced such difficult circumstances, adding that prolonged closures of internet services and roads had created challenges for people seeking to run businesses and restore normal life.

Bilawal said all issues could be resolved through dialogue. He noted that the Azad Kashmir Assembly had also passed a resolution for the establishment of a truth and reconciliation commission.

He called for both protests and official actions to be suspended until the commission was established.

"I have a passion for opposition politics; if I were in opposition, they would know what it means," he said.

Bilawal further stated that if Kashmir is considered one entity, elections should also have been held on a single day, adding that elections in the region had never previously been conducted in six phases.