Zardari vows to rectify historical wrong of Bhutto’s judicial murder

GARHI KHUDA BUX: President Asif Ali Zardari Monday vowed to rectify the historical wrong of the “judicial murder” of Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and said now it was the obligation of the judiciary to clear its record.He was addressing a large gathering here at the mausoleum of the Shaheeds of Bhutto family on the 32nd death anniversary of Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto in the early hours of Monday, the President said he had filed a reference and desired the record to be corrected.“We are not like Cromwell. We are not seeking revenge. We want the history to record that a wrong was committed and it needs to be corrected.”The venue, filled with thousands of Pakistan People’s Party workers from across the country, continued to reverberate with slogans of ‘Jeay Bhutto’, ‘Zinda hae Bhutto Zinda hae’ and ‘Zinda hae BB Zinda hae’. Chairperson of Pakistan Peoples Party Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and other senior party leadership joined the ‘jiylas’ in raising slogans.“There should be no objection to the reference as it is the demand of the people of Pakistan,” Zardari said amidst the slogans of “zalmo jawab do khun ka hisab do”.“We do not want clash of institutions, we want to makeinstitution work like an institution. That’s why we have sent you a reference to clear the wrong that you had done,” the President said.President Zardari said those who committed the judicial murder of Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto thought that they had buried him in the dead of the night and thrown her daughter in the jail and beaten up the jiylas, but they never could have imagined that they were in fact making him immortal.“They never knew that Shaheed Benazir Bhutto would spread her father’s message to every nook and corner of the country.”President Zardari said the judiciary of today was the one, for whose independence the people had suffered and rendered sacrifices.“They too (judiciary) had learnt from Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto to come out on the streets and fight for their rights,” he said.He said in one year time the government has successfully transferred all powers to the Parliament. “We do not believe in making headlines, we prefer making history with our blood, like the Shaheeds of the Bhutto family did.”The historians must understand and note what is the strength of people and of Pakistan Peoples Party.The President also invited all political leaders to come and sit together to find out a solution to the grave economic challenges and to find a way out.“Let’s find out how to save Pakistan, how to determine it’s destiny,” he said.“There is still the need to do a lot as thousands of Bilawals are still barefoot.”He said he believed in policy of reconciliation and offered the ‘political actors’ to sit together and find solution to their problems. “We have come with a message of peace … talk to us …  we are the largest political party … we are in spite of you … we have a philosophy and the people are with us and we can determine its destiny.”The President said that he still has more tests to undertake and has to hold the next general election. He pointed at the several of the by-elections in the country that were held with complete transparency. He said the government restored the judiciary and the constitution and would also hold the general election on time.“We will hold free, fair and transparent elections and if the people so desire we will return to power, or if they so choose, we will sit in opposition,” the President said.President Zardari said it has been the success of the mandate of the people of Pakistan that Bhutto lives in the hearts and minds of the people. He said attempts were made in the past to dislodge the PPP government, but again the party was brought into power by the people of Pakistan.The President said that he knew that the prices of Rs 500 billion has come in rural economy and it is for the first time that the farmer has thought of changing his life style and buying basic amenities of life.The President also recited the verses; Tum kitne Bhutto maro gae, har ghar se Bhutto nikle ga. Aaj maen bhe Bhutto hun, Aaj tum bhe Bhutto ho, (How many Bhutto’s would you kill. Bhutto will emerge from each house. Today I am also a Bhutto and you too are today a Bhutto), as the large crowd joined him.The President said Shaheed Benazir Bhutto had taken revenge of her father’s murder, through democracy.“I am proud to say that I am sitting at a position due to the blood of the Shaheeds of Bhutto and at a place that has in the past always worked against us.”“I am trustee of the legacy of Bhutto,” President Zardari said and added that he was a student of Benazir Bhutto. He said he asked all party leaders to write in the attendence register on the very first day their relation to the Shaheed leader and Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani described himself as brother of Shaheed Bhutto. It was the Pakistan Peoples Party that called upon the Prime Minister to be the Prime Minister on the name of Shaheed Benazir Bhutto, like it did to all others, Zardari said.“In fact it was the history being written, which showed that they all were Bhuttos. No one understood at that time,” the President said.He said “if anyone thinks that he himself is someone special, than he is wrong. It is all because of the Bhutto legacy and nothing else.”President Zardari said he was presenting himself before the party workers for accountability. He said he was the trustee of party’s honour, dignity and prestige. He said he in his address earlier at Thatta had vowed to change the system.The President said he has fulfilled his pledge, made last year, to restore the Constitution of 1973, and some political actors and others did not believe him.President Zardari said some thought that they would never give complete powers to the government, but were proven wrong.Attired in a black Sherwani and a silver Sindhi cap, President Zardari said no where in the world, people still love and remember a leader 32 years after his death, like the way they do it here, as he was a leader of the masses, the workers. He was the voice of the people of Pakistan.He said political actors were once again bent upon their pranks and recalled that in one television show one commentator tried to mislead the young audience by saying that after Benazir Bhutto, her husband was in power, that would be followed by the son. But he did not mention their sufferings, he did not point that the daughter was never allowed to see her father when he was hanged, and how she yearned for her children, how the family was forced to exile, he said.He said it were the sacrifices of the party that had given them the position that they deserved, and even after 32 years the people still have the same respect, love and regard for their great leader.President Zardari said it is only the ‘jiylas’ of the Pakistan Peoples Party who have withstood the test of the time and even though their commander Shaheed Benazir Bhutto – was assassinated, they still contested in the polls and came to power.  He said it were the sacrifices of the people that democracy was flourishing in the country.He asked the gathering to join him in prayers for the martyrs of democracy.Zardari said it was also a historical fact that today the President was here at Garhi Khuda Bux to pay homage to the great leader.He said it was his honour to serve the people of Pakistan and was proud to work for 14 hours straight, and his Prime Minister works 12 hours and has to be present at the parliament house for 99 days in a 135 days of the
parliament year, because he is the representative of the people.It is the same President House that was once against Faiz Ahmed Faiz and declared him persona non-grata, and today the same President House honours the great poet and the place echoes with the slogans of Bhutto is alive, he added.He said the investigation report in the murder of Benazir Bhutto has been put before the party leadership and the law will take its course and the party only believed in revenge through more democracy.He said people now know the faces of some, while others who were involved would also surface.“Law is taking its course, we are not taking revenge. Our revenge is the one which Bilawal said on the first day and that is democracy, democracy and democracy.”