Sindh Minister for Information & Archives and Labour Saeed Ghani on Friday, while paying tribute to the martyrs of the tragedy of October 18 on the occasion of 12th anniversary of the grim incident, said that the tragedies of both December 27 as well as October 18 were planned by the same wicked and ruthless elements. Ghani said that sacrifices of the martyrs of October 18 could never be forgotten. He said that Pakistan People’s Party never bowed down before a dictator and Benazir Bhutto, despites having extremely serious threats to her life, returned home on October 18. He said that several leaders and workers of the Pakistan People’s Party had sacrificed their lives for strengthening democracy in the country. Ghani said if suspects of October 18 had been exposed and arrested, it could have been easy to reach those criminals who were behind the extremely gloomy incident of December 27. He demanded that the Supreme Court should take notice of how all the accused in this important case had been set free by the judiciary. He said the court should order re-arrest of all of them, besides also summoning Pervez Musharraf in the courtroom. He said that after October 18 tragedy, instead of registering a case against the accused on the complaint of the victims’ relatives, the then government registered a case on its own behalf just to weaken the case. Ghani on Friday visited the graves of the martyrs of October 18 tragedy in a cemetery in Azam Basti, and after that he visited the memorial on Shahrah-e-Faisal near Karsaz established in memory of the heroes who laid down their lives while protecting their leader, and placed flowers there. Special Assistants to Sindh Chief Minister Waqar Mehdi, Rashid Rabbani and others were also present on the occasion. Talking to reporters, Ghani said that the PPP leaders had been visiting the site to pay tribute to the martyrs for the last 12 years and the loved ones of the martyrs also accompanied them on the occasion. He said that the October 18 terrorist incident was one of the horrific incidents the world in which the workers of a peaceful political party were targeted while they were welcoming their beloved leader. Ghani said 177 of the PPP workers were martyred and about 500 party jiyalas were injured in this horrific incident of terrorism. He said that despite authentic information that the life of Benazir Bhutto was at risk, the then government of military dictator Pervez Musharraf and his team did not arrange for foolproof security for her. He said that it was only if after tragedy of October 18 a case had been filed on the PPP’s demand. He said that following its transparent investigation and the arrest of Pervez Musharraf, the world today had known about the circumstances behind the tragedy of December 27. Responding to a question, Ghani said that despite the PPP’s government in Sindh, the party did not use government machinery at any level in the by-election in Larkana. He said that the representatives of the selected government rigged this election as well during the vote count. The evidence had been provided to the media by our candidate Jameel Soomro, he added. He said that under a deliberate conspiracy, the process of polling was delayed at women’s polling stations. Saeed Ghani said that when the results started coming in, the PPP candidate was far ahead of the opposition candidate on about 40 to 45 polling stations, but after that the PPP candidate was stopped outside the DRO office and what followed was the worst form of rigging. “We did not accept the election result, and we will challenge it at every relevant forum.” Responding to a question, Ghani said that whenever the Pakistan People’s Party contested the elections, it had to confront not only the political forces but the other forces as well. “Every aware Pakistani is very much familiar with these other forces,” he added.