Daily Times

Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto founded the Pakistan Peoples Party on November 30, 1967. Seeing the manifesto of Quaid-e-Awam Bhutto Shaheed, people belonging to different classes continued to join the People’s Party, including landlords, capitalists and chiefs, but the reality is that the PPP emerged primarily as a party of the exploited poor, labourers, farmers and students. It would be true if it is said that the foundation of the Pakistan People’s Party was a beautiful and much-needed change. People’s leader Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto lit a candle of consciousness that turned into a shining sun. The downtrodden class, which suffered from crushing deprivations, got consciousness and language to speak for themselves. Those with bare feet and torn clothes got the courage and strength so much so that for the first time in the political history of Pakistan, there were slogans of “Death to Capitalism” in the rallies.

During the 1950s and 1960s, countless new leaders were born on the map of the world. Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto was considered among the greatest leaders of Asia during the 1960s and 1970s.

Today, the PPP is the only political party in the country, which has power in all four provinces, tribal areas and northern regions and provides equal opportunities to every section irrespective of the urban area, sect, religion and gender. The Pakistan People’s Party always has and will continue to strive for a society based on social justice, rule of law and human dignity. The PPP is a symbol of the federation, which started politics based on the federation. Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was a leader with great political thought and wisdom who was a born reformist who could convince and lead the nation with his charismatic personality.

The PPP always has and will continue to strive for a society based on social justice, rule of law and human dignity.

The Pakistan People’s Party is now 55 years old. Perhaps, the average age of a common man in Pakistan has now dropped to 50 and 60 years. And the PPP might be getting old but it’s being led by a leader who is in his early 30s and is making the entire Pakistan proud of being the foreign minister of Pakistan. Zulfikar Ali Bhutto took his party to the slums of the poor, and the factories of the workers. There, he made his place among the people living in the four provinces. When Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto started his first election campaign on his party’s ticket, Bhutto was asked by the elite of Pakistan, who is with you?

The PPP managed to form the federal government four times in 55 years, out of which, it was thrown out of power twice by a conspiracy within two years. But in those two years, the PPP gave the missile system to the country; social protection programs, freedom to the media and legislation on women’s rights. All this had never been on the agenda of other governments.

Historically in Pakistan, various allegations were made to defame the parties. In the case of PPP, these allegations have been constant but in reality, they could never be proved in the courts. An attempt was made to discredit Asif Ali Zardari more than once but despite massive campaigns against him and his character assassination, not a single case has ever been proven in court. Before Asif Ali Zardari, Shaheed Benazir Bhutto was declared a security risk for the country. If you look at its 55-year history, the PPP has been a victim of constant criticism and propaganda.

People talk about hereditary politics, but people do not see how much the Bhutto family sacrificed for democracy. The critics should also see how many conspiracies took place against them. How the leadership was exiled, and every effort was made to destroy the party, but the People’s Party still exists today.

Life was made difficult for the workers. But those who dreamed of ending the PPP were forced to take early retirement themselves or to apologize to the PPP leadership for hatching conspiracies. Pakistan’s decision-makers should now realize that both PPP and Pakistan must go hand in hand.

The writer tweets at @ShahzadmemonPPP.