Zardari promises PPP prime minister on ZAB’s death anniversary

GARHI KHUDA BAKHSH: To mark the 38th death anniversary of the party’s founder Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) co-chairman and former president of Pakistan, Asif Ali Zardari vowed on Tuesday that the next prime minister of the country will be elected from the party.

“This is my promise to you that the next PM will be from PPP,” he said while addressing a gathering of party supporters in Garhi Khuda Buksh, Larkana.

The PPP co-chairman said Bhutto faced suppression and mistreatment but he and Benazir Bhutto kept raising their voice for the country.

“We are waiting for the Panama [verdict] and for the judges to deliver the decision,” Zardari said and added, “We don’t think that justice has ever been delivered in Pakistan, whereas PPP has also been subjected to character assassination.”

‘Bhutto is the name of an ideology’

Later, Zardari’s son PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari said the rulers were only interested in Panama’s verdict and do not care about people’s well being.

Remembering his grandfather, Bilawal said: “Today marks the darkest chapter in the history of Pakistan. The leader who defeated dictators was hanged today.”

“What was Bhutto’s crime? Even children know that Bhutto’s crime was that he wanted to bring freedom in the country. He made Pakistan a nuclear power,” he said.

Bilawal said that it was PPP founder who gave sacrifices for democracy and for the country’s future as giving sacrifices was their legacy.

"Bhutto is the name of an ideology and not just a person."

"Imperialists and their cronies" conspired to plant the seeds of religious extremism in the country 40 years ago, said the young PPP leader and added that his party’s war against religious extremism started even before and continues to this day.

He said the government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was making a fool of everyone in the country in the name of making progress.

"Mian sahab, you can fool yourself, but you can't fool the 200 million people of Pakistan.”