KOHAT
Former foreign minister and Pakistan People’s Party Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said on Sunday that a military dictator, Ziaul Haq, and some politicians had ganged up for the hanging of late prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto (ZAB), and stressed the need for identifying those people whose facilitation had led to his judicial murder.
Addressing a public gathering in Kohat, Bilawal Bhutto has urged Chief Justice Supreme Court of Pakistan to Justice Qazi Faez Isa to rectify the mistake of the institution in the ZAB case.
“Twelve years ago, President Zardari had sent a reference to the Supreme Court of Pakistan to review the case of the judicial murder of Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. We hope that Justice Qazi Faez Isa would use this opportunity to rectify the mistake of its own institution, which was the very crime scene in this case. The constitutional and legal mistakes should be corrected. A decision alone would not be enough as we would need to tell the nation who the facilitators were in this murder, from General Zia to the judges, lawyers and politicians.
They are the criminals. We hope that justice would be provided not only legally but keeping in mind the historical context, and that the entire world would get to know why a leader of the Muslim Ummah was sent to the gallows. If the court addresses this issue itself, it would be a source of renewed hope for the people of Pakistan, as they too can hope to get justice for themselves,” Bilawal said.
Bilawal Bhutto said irrespective of the fact whether any other political party was ready or not, PPP was ready for the general elections. He claimed that the PPP was not the party of elite, but of ordinary people. “We have always fought against poverty,” he said, adding, “Party workers (Jiyalas) have always stood with the party whenever it has faced crisis. And no other party can compete with us when it comes to giving sacrifices.”
Bilawal said that he is grateful to the office bearers, organisations, candidates and Jiyalas of the PPP for making this series of the Party’s conventions a resounding success. The Jiyalas of PPP, the brothers of Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto and the soldiers of Quaid-e-Awami Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto have sent the message to the everyone that ‘philosophy of Bhutto’ is alive in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and will remain so.
Bilawal was of the view that some politicians had personal reasons for contesting elections. “Some of them wanted to come out of jails while others wanted to prevent themselves from landing in jails,” he opined.
He went on to say that on February 8, 2024 the PPP by winning the polls with a clear majority would eliminate the politics of hatred and division. “The PPP aims to put an end to the traditional politics of hate and division when it is chosen by the people on February 8 and introduce a new form of politics that is based on service,” he said.
“The PPP’s only purpose to contest the elections is to serve the people, while its counterparts are doing so to either get out of prison or to avoid it. We wish to come to power so that we can expand the internationally-acclaimed Benazir Income Support Programme so that the poorest of women in the country can be provided with relief. We are contesting the elections to ensure that benefits are reaped by the farmers and labourers through the Benazir Kissan and Mazdoor cards, as well as the Youth Card for our youngsters, following in the footsteps of our elders who served these families,” he remarked.
The PPPP chairman maintained “Giving public ownership over national resources was the purpose of the 18th Constitutional Amendment, which neither Imran Khan nor Nawaz Sharif implemented.”
He further said “God willing, when the Pakistan People’s Party government will be formed, we will implement the 18th Constitutional Amendment. We will make people owner of their own resources.”
“The 1973 Constitution, 18th Amendment and NFC Award are all gifts given to the people by the PPP and those wishing to repeal them would have to face us. We will establish an actual ‘rule of the people’ and see to it that the people get their rights and fair share,” he said.
Bilawal said “Pakistan People’s Party has represented the oppressed people of the backward areas and the weaker sections in every era. We have always fought against poverty. And the solution to today’s democratic, political, human rights and economic problems is in the manifesto of the Pakistan People’s Party.”
He said that the PPP has always represented the downtrodden masses and been their voice. The plethora of crises faced by the country today can all be resolved with the ideology of Quaid-e-Awam Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto in his manifesto. The PPP does not compete with its fellow politicians and parties, but poverty, unemployment and inflation. The Party has been fighting the war for ‘Roti, Kapra Aur Makaan’ for three generations. Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir would be recognised by the slogan of ‘Benazir Aaye Gi, Rozgaar Laye Gi’. This is because the PPP is the sole party that stands with farmers, labourers, students and the downtrodden instead of the elite class, he added.
Chairman Bilawal expressed his gratitude towards the people along with his resolve to serve the people. “We continue to keep trusting the people and leaving the Party’s fate in their hands alone, as we were taught by our leader that ‘people are the source of power’, Chairman Bilawal said.
