ISLAMABAD, Friday, June 5, 2026 (WNP): Chairman of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on Friday pledged to secure land ownership rights for the people of Gilgit-Baltistan, saying his party’s longstanding mission was to make local residents owners of land stretching from riverbanks to mountain peaks.
In a video message addressed to the people of Gilgit-Baltistan ahead of the June 7 elections, Bilawal urged voters to support the PPP and grant it a strong mandate to enable the implementation of legislation concerning land ownership rights.
He said since entering politics, and particularly during his campaigns in Gilgit-Baltistan, he had consistently advocated for granting ownership rights to local residents. He noted that during the previous legislative assembly, the PPP had passed legislation converting approximately 28,000 square miles of state land into common land.
According to Bilawal, the legislation divided common land into cultivable and non-cultivable categories. He said cultivable land had been made legally distributable, while ownership rights and protections for non-cultivable land had also been incorporated into the law.
“The need now is to implement this legislation,” he said, urging voters to elect PPP candidates in large numbers on June 7.
Addressing residents of Baltistan, particularly Shigar, Bilawal said they stood to benefit significantly from the implementation of the law. He appealed to voters to stamp the PPP’s election symbol, the arrow, and help the party secure victory so that land ownership rights could be delivered to the people.
He said residents of Skardu would also benefit substantially and called for all seats in the district to be won by the PPP to facilitate implementation of the legislation.
Bilawal also appealed to voters in Kharmang, Ghanche, Gilgit and Diamer, saying the legislation would empower local communities by granting them legal ownership of land.
He described land ownership rights as a central mission for Gilgit and said the people wanted the legislation already passed by the PPP to be implemented effectively.
The PPP chairman also addressed voters in Hunza, Nagar and Ghizer, urging them to come out in large numbers and cast their votes for the party to send a clear message that the people of these areas wanted ownership rights and enforcement of the law.
Rejecting claims that the PPP could not win in Diamer and Astore, Bilawal questioned whether the people of those districts did not want ownership rights and control over their rangelands.
He expressed confidence that the PPP would win all six seats in the two districts and use the mandate to ensure residents became legal owners of their land.
Bilawal further said that, with a historic mandate, the PPP would move to the next phase of reforms by incorporating the provisions of the 1974 land reforms introduced by PPP founder and former prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto into the existing framework.
He said the party remained committed to ensuring that the people of Gilgit-Baltistan became rightful owners of land from the riverbanks to the mountain tops and urged voters to support the PPP in the upcoming elections.
