Remembering Karsaz Blast: Zardari says within a year dictator was sent home packing

Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari has stated that the 18th day of October is an occasion to pay homage to the memories of those brave sons and daughters of the nation who laid down their lives and suffered immeasurably in the cause of democracy and fighting against extremism.
In a statement Saturday, Asif Zardari said Karsaz blast anniversary is also an occasion to reiterate the pledge to fulfil the mission of Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto. The jalsa organised by the Party today in Karachi is aimed at reiterating the pledge loudly and clearly.
He said Benazir Bhutto that seven years ago, Benazir Bhutto decided to return to Pakistan because she sensed that Pakistan was faced with existential threat from the militants on the one hand and dictatorship on the other. "She wanted to lead from the front the fight against dictatorship and militancy. Once she made up her mind nothing could stop her. The enemies of democracy and Pakistan and the cowards were waiting. They brutally attacked her caravan resulting in the martyrdom of nearly two hundred Party workers and democrats. But nothing could deter the party workers; indeed nothing will," the former president stated.
He further remarked that "within a year the dictator was sent home packing on August 18, 2008. The democratic journey continued resulting in the restoration, to a large extent, of the 1973 Constitution, grant of unprecedented provincial autonomy, a new NFC Award on the basis of a revised formula and the strengthening of the Parliament as the President voluntarily returned powers to the Parliament."
Asif Zardari stated that the struggle has not ended yet, adding that a great threat today is from those who are seeking to assault democracy in the name of democracy itself. The fight against this dictatorial and anarchical mindset must also continue; it will. Let there be no doubt or mistake about it. The former president called upon all political workers and the nation to remember martyrs of democracy in their prayers and also remember the personnel of the armed forces, civil law enforcing agencies and the people who have made untold sacrifices in the fight against extremism in their prayers.