BRADFORD, June 21 Declaring that his mother sacrificed her life for democracy, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari vowed to make all of Benazir Bhutto's dreams for Pakistan come true.

The chairman of Pakistan People's Party was speaking here on Sunday at a function organised by the UK People's Party to celebrate the birthday of their assassinated leader.

A charged crowd of about 700 PPP supporters who had gathered at the Town Hall here punctuated the speech of Bilawal with ringing slogans of Jiye Bhutto. In his first ever public appearance since the two press conferences that he had addressed soon after Benazir's death, one in Pakistan and the other in the UK, Bilawal said that the extremists pulled the trigger, but it was dictatorship that loaded the gun that killed his mother.

He made an earnest appeal for helping the IDPs and praised the bravery of Pakistani troops fighting the extremists.

“Our brave soldiers are making great sacrifices to save Pakistan from falling into the hands of the enemies who are attacking the very existence of the country and who are against democracy, against the real Islam and against the Bhuttos.” He said he would enter active politics only after finishing his studies.

So have patience, he told his supporters, “I will be there to help the party in time.”

“My mother used to say that the most precious gift a parent can give their child is education. She taught me that everything can be taken from you; your life, liberty, property or your healthy, wealthy and happiness but not one can take away your education,” he added.

He said that to the disappointment of her killers her mother lives on in the hearts of every Pakistani who believes in a democratic Pakistan.

He vowed to expose Benazir's murderers and said the UN investigation, taking place right now, “shall expose the individuals who planned, financed and attempted to cover up the assassination”.

He implied that Benazir Bhutto was too great a leader to be consigned to an FIR, “Her murder required an investigation at the level of the UN”.

In his opening remarks, he said the people of Pakistan, the People's Party, “the people's prime minister and the people's president” saved the federation, triumphed in the elections, threw out the dictator, restored democracy and made the first part of her dream a reality!

“Now we must work to make the rest of her dreams come true.

Inshallah, one day, I too will return and help make her dream a reality. Here I must ask your patience. I know some of you are eager for me to enter politics.

“Of course the murderers of my mother have not given up. They began a whispering campaign that suggested the people that loved her the most were responsible for her death. They began a whisper campaign, to suggest that the people that loved her most are not loyal to her dreams and desires.

“Let me tell you there is not a single member of her immediate family that does not wish that they were in that car instead of her. If I could turn back the time I would without a moment hesitation take her place!

He said the party must work to eliminate poverty not only because it has always been the desire of the PPP to do so but, “because it will dry up the supply of the impoverished upon which the extremists feed”.

He said the Pakistan People' Party inherited a Pakistan engulfed in crisis.

“The country was on the brink of an economic meltdown and the party rescued it. “The country under the leadership of lesser men would have been at war with its neighbours but we have managed to maintain peace.

“Terrorists are attacking the country, and the democratic government has done what the military dictator could not. We have united the people of Pakistan and taken the fight to the fanatics.

“These people are the worst of the worst. They have murdered, tortured and tormented countless Pakistanis.”