In a message on the eve of the 49th foundation day of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) on Monday, its Co-Chairman Asif Ali Zardari has vowed that the party’s struggle to build a progressive, egalitarian and democratic society will continue unabated despite odds.
“I wish to reiterate that the Party aims at making Pakistan a welfare driven state- a state in which the motivating force and rationale for state policies is the welfare of the people and nothing else,” he said.
“Bhuttoism is the name of an ideology and the founding day is an occasion to rejoice and celebrate in that ideology. It is also an occasion to renew our pledge to empower the people, emancipate women, integrate the Non Muslim minorities in the national mainstream and strengthen democratic institutions and to serve the masses,” he said.
“It was this ideology of Bhuttoism that the previous PPP government succeeded in restoring the unanimous Constitution of 1973, opening doors of political reforms and participation in the tribal areas, taking head on the militants, launching a massive poverty alleviation program, making the workers share holders in state rune enterprises and uplifting the lot of minorities.
“The journey in the pursuit of ideology must continue. We will continue our struggle to ensure that religion based laws were not misapplied to stifle dissent or haunt non Muslim minorities or hound vulnerable and weaker sections of the Muslims in the name of faith,” he said.
Paying tributes to the political workers, he said that democracy has survived and flourished on their sweat, blood and tears. It is because of their sacrifices that dictatorship has not been able to take root in Pakistan.
Zardari reiterated that the epic struggle for safeguarding democracy and democratic institutions and empowering people would continue.