HYDERABAD, Oct 27: The Pakistan People’s Party chairperson said on Saturday the Oct 18 blasts were a stark reminder to the fact that the battle in Pakistan was not only between dictatorship and democracy, but also between the forces of extremism and moderation.

Benazir Bhutto said in a written speech read out at a dialogue on “Sindh and Pakistan after Karachi carnage: concerns and responsibilities of civil society”, that the civil society and progressive forces should join hands with PPP in its fight against ‘anti-people elements’.

She was scheduled to attend the dialogue organised by the Sindh Democratic Forum at a hotel, but excused herself due to the Larkana visit.

She termed the blasts an act of cowardice, saying her efforts for a transition to democracy had challenged the forces of “militancy, bigotry and intolerance”.

She said that the “overwhelming reception” accorded to her was not for a person but for the people’s collective desire for empowerment, education and employment. “This threatened the forces of status quo.”

“Only by restoring people’s will can our country progress and prosper and emerge as a tolerant and realistic society where people are masters of their own destiny,” she observed.

Other speakers called for the resignation of the government and formation of a caretaker government comprising all major political parties, an independent election commission, return of exiled leaders and free and fair elections.

The general secretary of the Sindh chapter of PPP Nafees Siddiqui said the Oct 18 rally had outshone the 1986 reception accorded to Ms Benazir Bhutto as “three million people had participated in the rally”.

The general secretary of PML-N, Mamnoon Hussain, termed the NRO as “national humiliation ordinance”.

SDF convenor Abrar Kazi said the Oct 18 tragedy was an attack on the people of Sindh and their rights. There was consensus that army’s involvement in politics had created hatred and fissures among people, he said.

Awami Tehrik chief Rasool Bux Palejo was critical of Benazir Bhutto’s statement exonerating Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) from all responsibility for the blasts.

Former senator Taj Hyder said in his rejoinder to Chaudhry Shujaat’s statement that PPP government did call foreign experts to investigate into Mir Murtaza Bhutto’s murder and said that when they were near its completion the government was dissolved.

Deputy general secretary of Jamhoori Watan Party Rauf Sasoli said that people of Balochistan had been fed up with federation-based politics because parliament had never been sovereign and appealed to political parties to help bring Baloch people into mainstream.