ISLAMABAD, April 3: Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairperson Benazir Bhutto has urged the democratic forces to renew their determination to fight for restoration of the constitution and democracy in the country.

In a message on the death anniversary of party founder Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, she said 26 years ago on this day Pakistan’s “first directly-elected prime minister was martyred at the hands of a military dictator”.

“On this day, I also urge the people to forge unity in their ranks to fight for rule of law,

justice, equity and return of

the military to their professi-onal duties for our great nation.”

She said Mr Bhutto founded the PPP to give power to the poor, the downtrodden, the deprived and dispossessed sections of society. He empowered the people to help them shape their own destiny and that of their country.

“The dictator and anti-democratic forces conspired to eliminate him because they feared that as long as he was around neither dictatorship could flourish nor the people’s voice silenced.

They executed him physically but failed to extinguish the flame that he had lit.”

The former prime minister said the late Bhutto symbolized resistance against tyranny, injustice and despotic rule. Today, unfortunately, tyranny and despotic rule once again reigns in our land. Democracy has been vandalized and state institutions systematically destroyed. There is, therefore, a need, more than ever before, for imbibing the spirit of Mr Bhutto.

She said the PPP founder gave the country the unanimous Constitution, its nuclear and missile programmes and mega developmental projects including the Pakistan Steel Mills, Karakoram Highway and Kamra Aeronautical Complex, to name only a few.

His economic policies and development strategies were geared to eradicate poverty and alleviate the economic and social sufferings of the people, she added.

“Today, as the people have slipped into abject poverty and are committing suicides because of joblessness and economic hardships, the policies pursued by late Bhutto are a ringing endorsement that democracy and development go hand in hand.