Chairman Pakistan Peoples Party, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari addressing a workers’ convention in Kohat 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.
We were told not to hold conventions in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa owing to security concerns, Chairman Bilawal said. We were also told that the situation is such that the decision for the CM of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has already been made elsewhere. Our response to this was, that the Jiyalas of the Party are not to be deterred by such threats as they exhibit sheer courage and determination, and we will go to them as they are still ready to fight the mission of Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto. The Jiyalas of PPP have proved that they are always ready for elections, by choosing to come out at a time when the election campaign has not even begun properly and the election schedule is awaited.
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.
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. 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. We wish for every district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to have free-of-cost healthcare institutions such as the NICVD, Gambat Institute and the SIUT. Being able to afford healthcare facilities or not should not determine whether one gets to live, Chairman Bilawal said.
We are contesting the elections to continue the accomplishments achieved by Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto and President Zardari. 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. 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.
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.