October 24, 2008	Friday	Shawwal 24, 1429

KARACHI, Oct 23: Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah on Thursday paid tribute to the “martyrs” of the Oct 18, 2007 attacks on Ms Benazir Bhutto’s homecoming rally and announced that the government would give to the grieving families not only plots, but also the financial assistance to construct the houses.

He also announced that one member of the affected family would be given a government job according to his/her qualification which would be in addition to the financial assistance of Rs100,000 paid to them.

The chief minister, who is also the president of the Sindh chapter of the Pakistan People’s Party, also endorsed a decision of the Karachi chapter of the PPP to bear all educational expenses of the children of the party loyalists who lost their lives on Oct 18. It has also been decided to provide full medical cover to their families.

“We are not the party of only good times, but of those who also equally share the responsibilities of good and bad times,” Mr Shah assured the family members and relatives of those who lost their lives while providing security cover to their party leader when two bombs exploded, one after an other, in the welcome procession near Karsaz Bridge on Sharae Faisal.

The chief minister, who was addressing a memorial function arranged at the Chief Minister’s House, announced that allotment letters of the plots would be handed over to them by President Asif Ali Zardari.

Before the start of the function the chief minister refused to sit on the stage as a gesture of respect for the victim families.

He said President Zardari was keen to meet the heirs of brave and bold party activists and wanted to share some moments with them.

The chief minister announced that according to the wishes of Ms Benazir Bhutto and President Asif Zardari, the Sindh government would construct a memorial at the place of the tragedy. He said its foundation stone was to be laid by the president on Oct 18, but due an engagement the president couldn’t make it. However, after the completion of the monument, President Zardari would perform its inauguration.

A replica of the memorial was also placed on the stage.

Mr Shah also recalled the bold refusal of Ms Benazir Bhutto to stay back at home after the incident. He said that despite the government’s advice that her life was in danger and she should stay inside the Bilawal House, she rushed to the hospital to see the injured.

He said when they were organising a “Jannisaran-i-Bhutto” batch, thousands of youths had offered their services, but in the end only a batch of 2,000 could be prepared who proved their loyalty.

The chief minister said that most of the victims of the blast were from Karachi while there were others who were from the interior of Sindh, Punjab and NWFP and some of them were even from Siachen Glacier.

He expressed gratitude to Faisal Abdi, Rashid Rabbani, Waqar Mehdi and Junaid who compiled a list of victims of the Oct 18 tragedy.

Earlier, Faisal Abdi read out the names of the victims of the tragedy in which 150 people were killed and over 600 injured.

Before the speeches a collective prayer was offered for martyrs and for Ms Benazir Bhutto.

Waqar Mehdi conducted the proceedings which concluded with slogans of “Long live Bhutto” “Long live Benazir”.

Makhdoom Jamil-uz-Zaman, Rafique Engineer, Shazia Marri and Shehla Raza etc and other party officials were also present.