PPP’s 55th foundation day: PPP defeated three dictators for democracy, says Zardari

ISLAMABAD: President Pakistan People’s Party Parliamentarians (PPPP) Asif Ali Zardari Tuesday said the PPP defeated three dictators for democracy and emerged victorious.

In a message to the party workers on the 55th foundation day of the party, he said courage was their heritage and undoubtedly the determination of the party workers was exemplary. He said Bhutto could have lived by bowing down before the dictator but he chose to sacrifice himself for the nation.

He paid homage to the heroes of the party who were martyred while standing firm on their ideology. “Madar-e-Jamhooriat Begum Nusrat Bhutto sacrificed everything for the sake of the country but never gave up. Shaheed Benazir Bhutto as a young girl resisted barbaric and brutal tyranny. Her democratic struggle destroyed the idols of powerful dictators,” he said.

Zardari said today the graveyard of Garhi Khuda Bakhsh was inhabited by martyrs, but there was no sign of the names of their killers anywhere. The former president said they were the political followers of Quaid-e-Awam Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto.

“There is a difference between us and our opponents,” he said. In his message, PPP Chairman and Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said the country needed real elected governments and not the selected ones in future.

“We have to learn from our mistakes as a party, state and nation at our own level, and we have to read the writing on the wall that the country needs real elected governments and not selected ones in the future,” he said.

Bilawal said his party’s 55-year struggle was close to fruition, as there would be the supremacy of the Constitution and democracy will be strengthen in the country. “The PPP is the only political party in the country which has its roots in the public and faced the most difficult situations with courage and bravery. Our party provided leadership to the country and the nation during the trying and difficult situations,” he said.

Bilawal said PPP was the torchbearer of democracy, human rights and equality in Pakistan. “Along with making the supremacy of the Constitution and parliament inviolable, establishment of a society based on equality and prosperity of the people is our mission,” he added.

Bilawal said living nations critically evaluated their past and present. He said the country, its constitution and democracy were dearest to the leadership and the PPP workers adding that his party was firmly committed to the philosophy and manifesto of its founder that ‘Islam is our religion, socialism is our economy, democracy is our politics and the source of power is the people.’

Bilawal on this day, every “Jiyala” (worker) must take a pledge that in light of Bhuttoism, they would continue struggling for people’s sovereignty, women’s empowerment, inclusion of minorities in the national mainstream, strengthening of democratic institutions to transform the country into a strong democratic and welfare state.

He reiterated his resolve that the PPP would continue to defeat every attack on the 1973 Constitution presented to nation as a gift by Quaid-i-Awam Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. He paid tribute to the leadership of Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, Begum Nusrat Bhutto and Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto for their great struggle and sacrifices.