ISLAMABAD: President Asif Ali Zardari has complimented all the political activists and citizens who support the principles of democracy, for which Shaheed Bhutto gave his life.
In his message on the 85th Birthday of Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto (January 5, 2013), the President said that Quaid-e-Awam Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Shaheed founded the Pakistan Peoples Party to give power to the poor, the downtrodden, the deprived and dispossessed sections of the society.
The President said that as a tall and great Shaheed Bhutto towered over the politics of Pakistan for four decades and his (Bhutto) cause was such that ordinary mortals became extraordinary when they embraced it.
He said today political personalities of diverse persuasions speak of the admiration that they have for this distinguished son of our motherland.
The President said that as a Muslim Bhutto was passionately committed to Muslim causes and Muslim unity while refusing to seek a certificate of his Islamic credentials from the self-styled custodians of religion and morality.
He said Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto brought together the heads of all Muslim countries in Lahore in 1974 at the OIC summit, which was co-hosted by King Faisal of Saudi Arabia. It was there that the Palestinian Authority under President Yassir Arafat was recognized as the authentic voice of the Palestinian people, he added.
President Zardari said when a clique of ambitious and power hungry generals brought defeat and disintegration, when ninety thousand prisoners of war were held hostage, when Nuremberg style trials were threatened against the men of the Pakistan army, Bhutto went to Simla. There he saved residual Pakistan as well as brought back territory lost in West Pakistan and paved the way for the return of the prisoners of war.
Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, he said, gave Pakistan the first representative constitution with full fundamental rights, guaranteeing women and minorities' parliamentary rights.
The President said dictators came and went subverting the Constitution but the collective wisdom of the people has largely restored it during the present democratic government.
Counting a few landmark achievements of Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, the President said the Karakoram Highway, Port Qasim, Kamra, Aeronautical Complex, Heavy Mechanical Complex and the Nuclear Programme were some of the achievements that stand as silent monuments to this farsighted visionary and statesperson.
Zulfikar Ali Bhutto symbolized resistance against tyranny, injustice and despotic rule in Pakistan and beyond, the President added.
He said Quaid e Awam was committed to building peace, adding that the Simla Agreement, which he negotiated, with India holds peace for the longest duration in Indo Pak history.
The President said it is reassuring that the present democratic government has demonstrated the will and the courage to take forward the process of peace.
"My message to young people today is stand up to militants on the one hand and political orphans on the other who seek to undermine the Constitution and our values and way of life. That is the best way to pay homage to Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto," the President said.
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