File photo. Aamir Qureshi—AFP
The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) is marking the 15th anniversary of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto’s assassination with a public rally in Larkana that will be attended by the party’s leadership.
In a video message posted on social media on Monday, PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari said he had reached Larkana and invited people to attend the rally and commemorate the martyrdom of Pakistan’s first female prime minister. “We draw inspiration from her heroic struggle vs. dictatorship and extremism,” he wrote in an accompanying post on Twitter. “She taught us to serve the people, to strive for a Pakistan for all, not just privileged few,” he added.
Noting that he would address the public rally, he said he would pay tribute to his mother and also discuss the various crises facing Pakistan, including in the realms of foreign affairs, the economy and a resurgent terror threat.
In a separate message issued by the PPP’s Media Cell, former president Asif Ali Zardari—Benazir’s widower—said he could never neglect her mission, even in his sleep. “She guided in politics and is still guiding me through her philosophy,” he said, adding that no one else in Pakistan’s history has faced the difficulties his wife did for the sake of the Constitution and democracy.
Describing Benazir as the “epitome of patience and tolerance,” Zardari said she had bravely resisted barbaric and brutal dictators. “Rather than bowing before oppression, she taught us to harden ourselves against it,” he stressed, adding that continuation of democracy was her dream and by the grace of the Almighty Allah, that dream has been fulfilled.
Hoping the current assemblies would also complete their constitutional terms, he said this would help steer the country toward a strong and sustainable democracy. “National institutions stated intent to detach from politics and announce an intent to only follow the Constitution is also a realization of Benazir Bhutto’s dream,” he said. “This will give stability to democracy and establish credibility for the country,” he added.
The former president said the PPP was striving to make Pakistan a “paradise” free of all forms of extremism, where there are jobs for the people, equal opportunities for the youth to move forward, women free from the shackles of fear, and minorities with a respectable place in society. “We will fulfill this dream of Shaheed Benazir,” he vowed.
In an op-ed paying tribute to her mother, Benazir’s youngest daughter Aseefa Bhutto-Zardari wrote that every Dec. 27 brought with it the same “grief and hollowness” of 15 years ago. “Pakistan was in a desperate situation” when Benazir returned in 2007, she said, recalling that a “treasonous dictator” had terrorized the people, ravaged democratic institutions, and left us at the mercy of terrorists. The country, she wrote, was in need of a champion like Benazir. Summarizing the many accomplishments of her mother, Aseefa stressed that Benazir’s mission to fight democratically within Pakistan’s system had laid the foundation of an egalitarian country. “We miss you. Your country, your party, and the world are still missing your voice, your wisdom, and your insights,” she added.