Karachi: Former president of Pakistan and the co-chairman of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) on Friday reiterated his unflinching belief in democracy in the country and vowed to resume his political struggle through parliament.
On his arrival to the country after 18 months of self-imposed exile, in his brief address to the jubilant party workers at the Karachi international airport, Zardari said he would never abandon the people of Pakistan as was being speculated in the media.
“Political actors [media persons] accused us of escaping from the country and they never ceased to speculate but our bodies would be buried very much here, and how can we leave the people desolated?” he told the rally of party workers, who were dancing outside the airport.
He said that he raised the slogan Pakistan khappay, or “we want Pakistan”, after the martyrdom of Benazir Bhutto in 2008 and he still adhered to that slogan today.
“Democracy is the best revenge,” Zardari reiterated the mantra his son, Bilawal Bhutto, chanted in his maiden public address after the assassination of Bhutto.
Zardari said that his success was only to promote and strengthen the democracy in the country.
He added it did not matter that who was in power and who would be in power in the future for his and Pakistan’s success lies in democracy.
He also promised the people that he would have good news for them on December 27, the death anniversary of Bhutto, when he would address the rally in Garhi Khuda Bakhsh, the ancestral graveyard of Bhuttos.
“The philosophy of [Zulfiqar Ali] Bhutto and the martyrdom of Benazir Bhutto is eternal,” he said.
He reassured workers that his party would be again in power as it is ‘ordained’.
He also touched upon the independence struggle in Indian-administrated Kashmir, saying the residents of Kashmir were holding the flag of Pakistan and that was a strong sign of struggle by Kashmiris.
Zardari also vowed to take back Kashmir. He said there were issues at the Line of Control (LOC), but “our Pakistan was strong enough to endure any incursion with the strength the Pakistan army and the people.”
He added terrorists were also an Achilles heel, who are giving the nation great trouble. But, he said, Pakistan is not the country of terrorists or trouble makers.
He also criticised the government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif for his meaningless development plans. The former president slammed the government’s highway and motorway plans.
Meanwhile, the paramilitary Rangers raided the offices of Anwar Majeed, an industrialist and a close friend of Zardari, and arrested a man in connection with financial fraud and under other suspicions.
