Judiciary needs to remove blot on its face: Zardari addresses ZAB's 32nd death anniversary

President Asif Ali Zardari while terming the death sentence handed down to Zulfikar Ali Bhutto as a blot on the face of judiciary said that the reference he filed in Supreme Court for reopening of Bhutto case has provided an opportunity to judiciary to remove the blot from its face.
He vowed to rectify the historical wrong of the judicial murder of Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and said now it was the obligation of the judiciary to clear its record.
He was addressing a large gathering here at the mausoleum of the Shaheeds of the Bhutto family on the 32nd death anniversary of Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto here on late Sunday night.
"We are not like Cromwell. We are not seeking revenge. We want the history to record that a wrong was committed and it needs to be corrected."
President Zardari said the judicial murder of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto needs to be rectified. He said a reference in this regard has been sent.
Those who committed the judicial murder of Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto thought that they had buried him in the dead of the night and thrown her daughter in the jail, but they never could have imagined that they were in fact making him immortal, he remarked.
It has been the success of the mandate of the people of Pakistan that Bhutto lives in the hearts and minds of the people, he added.
He said he himself has spent almost double the time in jail, than he was supposed to.
"We do not want clash of institutions, we want to strengthen them. That's why we have sent you a reference to clear the wrong that you had done," the President said.
He said in one year time the government has successfully transferred all powers to the Parliament. "We do not believe in making headlines, we prefer making history with our blood, like the Shaheeds of the Bhutto family did."
The President also invited all political leaders to come and sit together to find out a solution to the grave economic challenges the country was facing and to find a way out.
He said he believed in policy of reconciliation and offered the 'political actors' to sit with them and find solution to their problems.
The President also recited the verses; Tum kitne Bhutto maro gae, har ghar se Bhutto nikle ga. Aaj maen bhe Bhutto hun, Aaj tum bhe Bhutto ho, (How many Bhutto's would you kill. Bhutto will emerge from each house. Today I am also a Bhutto and you too are today a Bhutto), as the large crowd joined him.
President Zardari said the judiciary of today was the one, for whose independence the people had suffered and they too had learnt from Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto to come out on the streets and fight for their rights.
The President said Shaheed Benazir Bhutto had taken revenge of her father's murder, through democracy.
"I am proud to say that I am sitting at a position due to the blood of the Shaheeds of Bhutto and at a place that has in the past always worked against us."
The Chairperson of Pakistan Peoples Party Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and other senior party leadership were present on the occasion. The venue, filled with thousands of Pakistan People's Party workers from across the country, continued to reverberate with slogans of 'Jeay Bhutto', 'Zinda hae Bhutto Zinda hae' and 'Zinda hae BB Zinda hae'.
President Zardari said he was presenting himself before the party workers for accountability. He said he was the 'ameen' of party's honour, dignity and prestige. He said he in his address at Thatta had vowed to change the system.
The President said he has fulfilled his pledge, made last year, to restore the Constitution of 1973, and some political actors and others did not believe him.
President Zardari said some thought that they would never give complete powers to the government, but were proven wrong.
Attired in a black Sherwani and a silver Sindhi cap, President Zardari said no where in the world, people still love and remember a leader 32 years after his death, like the way they do it here, as he was a leader of the masses, the workers. He was the voice of the people of Pakistan.
He said political actors were once again bent upon their pranks and recalled that in one television show one commentator said that after Benazir Bhutto, her husband was in power, to be followed by the son.
But he did not mention their sufferings, he did not point that the daughter was never allowed to see her father when he was hanged, and how she yearned for her children, how the family was forced to exile.
He said it were the sacrifices of the party that had given them the position that they deserved, and even after 32 years the people still have the same respect, love and regard for their great leader.
President Zardari said it is only the 'jiyalas' of the Pakistan Peoples Party who have withstood the test of the time and even though their commander Shaheed Benazir Bhutto - was assassinated, they still contested in the polls and came to power. He said it were the sacrifices of the people that democracy was flourishing in the country.
The President said that he still has more tests to undertake and has to hold the next general election. He pointed at the several of the by-elections in the country that were held with complete transparency.
"We will hold free, fair and transparent elections and if the people so desire we will return to power, or if they so choose, we will sit in opposition," the President said. He asked the gathering to join him in prayers for the martyrs of democracy.
The President said it was also a historical fact that today the President was here at Garhi Khuda Bux to pay homage to the great leader.
He said it was his honour to serve the people of Pakistan and was proud to work for 14 hours straight, and his Prime Minister works 12 hours and has to be present at the parliament house for 99 days in a year.
It is the same President House that was once against Faiz Ahmed Faiz and today the same President House honours the great poet, he added.
He said the investigation report in the murder of Benazir Bhutto has been put before the party leadership and the law will take its course and the party only believed in revenge through more democracy.