Daily Times

Sir: I had just joined the University of Engineering and Technology Lahore when Zulfikar Ali Bhutto (ZAB), first Asian elected to Berkeley Council, graduate from Oxford and Lincoln’s Inn arrived at Lahore for a historic welcome after resignation as foreign minister. He founded the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) on November 30, 1967 at the residence of Mubashar Hassan.

He mesmerised and captured the hearts and minds of the youth, awakened workers to demand their rights and restored the honour and prestige of a nation devastated by the humiliating surrender at Dacca. ZAB laid the foundations of our sole credible defence by his resolve to acquire nuclear deterrence for Pakistan, brought together warring Muslim nations by holding the Islamic Summit in Lahore on February 22, 1975. It was during his tenure that Pakistan got its unanimously adopted 1973 Constitution, a document that the Quaid wanted to be drafted immediately after partition, so that the foundation of a modern democratic welfare state could be achieved. Bhutto believed in a foreign policy of bilateralism with emphasis on national interests and a policy of non-interference in the affairs of other countries. He established the Pakistan Steel Mills, Heavy Mechanical Complex Taxila, Port Qasim Authority and Karachi Nuclear Power Plant. It was in his tenure that Pakistan International Airlines was restored to profitability by appointing men of integrity and calibre like Rafique Saigol and Nur Khan. In his tenure, employment opportunities increased and recruitment was strictly done on merit. He laid emphasis on the development of human resources by promoting and subsidising education in the sciences, economic and liberal arts.
It is unfortunate that the PPP of today has nothing in common with the philosophy, manifesto or the ideology of ZAB. Under Asif Zardari and his clan, the PPP has been reduced to a regional party, hostage to corruption, which has systematically indulged in plunder of state institutions. The politics of compromising with criminals and land mafia tycoons has reduced Karachi to the status of the most dangerous city in Asia. ZAB built castles in the hearts and minds of people, while Asif Zardari has preferred to build castles, palatial villas in Pakistan, UAE, France, etc, and sugar cartels.
ALI MALIK TARIQ
Lahore