LAHORE, Jan 5: The Pakistan Peoples Party celebrated the 75th birth anniversary of the late Zulfikar Ali Bhutto on Sunday with the pledge to devote all energies to complete the mission of the leader who had sacrificed his life but not made any comprise on principles.

A workers’ convention was held under the chairmanship of Mr Qasim Zia participants in which eulogized the services of the late Bhutto in making Pakistan a nuclear power, uniting the Islamic countries, raising the status of the downtrodden and giving the country a Constitution which no dictator could dare abrogate despite violating it on various occasions.

A PML-N delegation also participated in the convention, a gesture appreciated by the PPP leaders.

Some speakers said a struggle would be launched from the ARD’s platform to bring back to Pakistan exiled former premiers Benazir Bhutto and Mian Nawaz Sharif.

Office-bearers of the district, tehsil and city organizations and ticket-holders participated.

Deputy Secretary-General Shah Mahmood Qureshi said Mr Bhutto had given the country an ideology in the form of the PPP. Turncoats could not dent the party in the presence of dedicated workers, he emphasised.

He said many attempts had been made to fragment the party through defections. But everytime masses rejected the defectors. This time, he said, the turncoats had adopted a new technique —- that Ms Bhutto is still their leader —- to confuse the PPP supporters. But, he believed, nobody would be hoodwinked by those who had got votes in the name of the party but had subsequently changed loyalties for power.

Barrister Aitzaz Ahsan said Mr Bhutto had rendered so many services to the country that it could be said without fear of contradiction he was the only leader of stature after the Quaid-i-Azam.

Bhutto’s sophisticated diplomacy, his success in bringing back all POWs after the fall of Dhaka and getting back territories occupied by India, his love for the poor and commitment to raise their standard of living, his role in making Pakistan a nuclear power and uniting the Islamic countries were unforgettable. Compared to Bhutto, Aitzaz said, the present rulers stood nowhere in the field of international diplomacy.

Vice-President Syed Yousaf Reza Gilani said the Bhutto family excelled in sacrifices and their services to the country could not be enumerated.

He said credit for making the PPP the biggest vote getter in the recent elections went to Ms Bhutto. Had 10 MNAs not joined hands with the military rulers, the PPP would have been in power. He was critical of the role of the National Accountability Bureau, saying in the changed circumstances its main responsibility was to ensure that all turncoats stayed with the PML-Q.

He said it was regrettable that after elections the NAB had been given under the control of the president, not the prime minister.

Qasim Zia said the party would be run as the workers would want.

As for those who had worked against party candidates in the general elections, Qasim said their lists would be prepared and they would be proceeded against.

Several cakes were cut and workers used their muscle to get their share.

Altaf Qureshi, Mushtaq Pagganwala, Nawabzada Ghazanfar Gul, Abdul Qadir Shaheen, Naveed Chaudhry, Imtiaz Safdar Waraich, Malik Hakimeen Khan, Begum Beelam Husnain, Sheikh Tasawwar Reza, Chaudhry Ghulam Sarwar, Mahmood Bhatty, Mian Ashraf, Shahida Jabeen, Shamim Niazi, Sajida Mir and Sajjad Bukhari also spoke.