LARKANA – President Asif Ali Zardari has described it as an obligation of the judiciary to clear the “black stains on its face” regarding the judicial murder of former prime minister and PPP founder Zulfikar Ali Bhutto.
“We are not seeking revenge. We want the history to record that a wrong was committed and it needs to be corrected,” he said, adding that the presidential reference sent to the Supreme Court was meant to correct the record. President Zardari was addressing a large gathering at the mausoleum of the martyrs of the Bhutto family on the 32nd death anniversary of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto in the early hours of Monday in Garhi Khuda Bux Bhutto where thousands of PPP workers and supporters from across the country had assembled.
“There should be no objection to the reference as it is the demand of the people of Pakistan. We do not want clash of institutions, we want to make the institution work like an institution. That’s why we have sent you a reference to clear the stains.” President Zardari said those who committed the judicial murder of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto thought that they had buried him in the dead of the night and thrown his daughter in jail and beaten up the party workers, but they never could have imagined that they were in fact making him immortal.
He said that the political actors were once again using 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, and he 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, “We do not believe in making headlines, we prefer making history with our blood, like the martyrs of the Bhutto family did.” The president also invited all political leaders to come and sit together to find out a solution to the economic challenges the country is faced with. “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.” “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 he was presenting himself before the party workers for accountability, adding that some people thought that they would never give complete powers to the government, but they were proven wrong.
