PPP is committed to finding killers of Benazir, says Badr

ASSOCIATED PRESS SERVICE

ABU DHABI - The Pakistan People’s Party is committed to finding the killers of Benazir Bhutto and punishing them, Jahangir Badr, PPP’s general secretary, said here on Sunday while addressing the Pakistani community at a dinner hosted for him.
The event was held under the theme, ‘Remembering Benazir Bhutto’, since it was the first event the PPP held in the capital after Benazir’s assassination. Badr made a stopover here with his family after performing Umrah.
In reply to a comment reportedly made by PML-Q leader Mushahid Hussain that an investigation into the killing by the UN would not be in the interest of Pakistan, Badr said: “It is our mission to expose the killers of Benazir. We will not give this up.”
He said that Benazir had herself written a letter to the UN to expose the people behind the October 18 blast at her procession in Karachi.
“Exposing her killers will help Pakistan because she was killed to damage Pakistan. Their exposure will strengthen the federation of Pakistan and democracy in the country,” he added.
Paying tributes to Benazir, he said the party would continue the mission of Benazir Bhutto under the leadership of PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and party co-chairman Asif Zardari. “PPP has become a symbol of democratic struggle all over the world,” he said.
Badr said that he would soon announce the establishment of Benazir Bhutto Institute of Democracy and Leadership in Pakistan which will impart leadership training. He advised the party workers to encourage young people to join the PPP.
Speaking on the occasion, PPP workers demanded that since PPP was in power, the killers of Benazir Bhutto should be arrested and punished; sacrifices of party workers should not be forgotten, a declaration should be made by judges that the hanging of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was illegal, elections be held at the Pakistan Social Centre Sharjah, Pakistani missions in the UAE be stopped from supporting the members of the previous regime in Pakistan, the social welfare fund collected by the Pakistani missions in the UAE be used for the welfare of the community, Pakistani schools be upgraded and teachers be employed on merit alone, investment into Pakistan be promoted, the middle man’s role in agriculture in Pakistan be cut.
“We have to change the system in Pakistan. This cannot be achieved by just talking about it. We have to take strong measures,” a party worker said.