Bilawal, Zardari pay glowing tributes on Z.A. Bhutto’s death anniversary

KARACHI: The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) is observing the 42nd death anniversary of founder and former prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto.

On the occasion, PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari paid glowing tributes and said those who martyred Bhutto in fact murdered the dreams of our founding fathers and laid to rest the future of Pakistani generations.

Bilawal said that Pakistan would have been a welfare state with a vibrant economy and society, seen as role-model Muslim country in the world, had Zulfikar Ali Bhutto not been hanged.

He said Bhutto was an iconic leader who had laid the foundations for equitable economic, political and democratic infrastructure. He added that the passing of the 1973 constitution remains till today the greatest democratic achievement of this country.

He said that the policies of Bhutto led to the establishing of huge industrial, economic and commercial ventures that revolutionized the country by redistributing wealth from the hands of the few to the many.

“It was unfortunate that the dictator Zia overthrew his legitimately elected government and drifted Pakistan into a quagmire of intolerance, extremism and poverty,” he said.

“Dictators and their selected unguided missiles imposed on this nation subsequently destroyed the democratic, societal, and economic fabric, decimating all gains of transferring power to the people by concentrating it back into the hands of a few,” he added.

Bilawal said they would carry on the mission of its founder Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and Benazir Bhutto, continuing the struggle for a strong, democratic, egalitarian and progressive nation.

Former President Asif Ali Zardari has said that the philosophy and ideology of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto is guidance for us and the PPP will continue to safeguard the parliamentary system in the country.

In his message, he said that the party will never compromise on the principle that people are the source of power. He said Bhutto built this nation from the ashes of defeat and gave the downtrodden masses a voice and courage to fight for their rights.

He changed the trend in politics and established the rule of people. He showed the world that the true leader of the people accepts death with grace but does not compromise on principles. He reiterated to defend the country and its constitution and vowed that the PPP will defeat all the conspiracies against 18th amendment.