KARACHI: President Asif Ali Zardari on Saturday vowed to fight and wipe out terrorists who wanted to ruin Pakistan through the barrel of the gun and were exploiting religion for ulterior motives.

“We are at war with terrorists and shall fight them to the last man and make Pakistan secure for ourselves and the future generation,” said Mr Zardari at a ceremony in connection with the launching of the Benazir Apna Ghar scheme for employees of the Pakistan International Airlines.

“After making workers owner of 12 per cent shares in various organisations, this scheme is part of the PPP’s promise of ‘roti, kapra, aur makan’ (food, clothing and shelter).”

Referring to Sri Lanka’s fight against Tamil Tigers for more than four decades, President Zardari expressed a similar resolve and said that those who wanted to take over this country through the barrel of the gun and by imposing their brand of Islam would never succeed.

“Our enemies are foreign as well as within,” he said.

Mr Zardari said the government was determined to make Pakistan secure for future generations from elements who were against its integrity. He said that former prime minister Benazir Bhutto had warned against the designs of the terrorists when she talked about Swat and was subsequently assassinated.

He said that best revenge of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and Benazir Bhutto’s martyrdom was to work hard and make Pakistan prosperous and economically strong and safe for the coming generation.

Responding to critics who he described as ‘political actors’, he said that PPP did not believe in slogan mongering like them but was working for the welfare of people, especially the downtrodden. That is why its leaders are and will be remembered in history. In an apparent reference to the elements advocating for regime change Mr Zardari said: “No seth can dictate us who will form the government and who will not.”

He said that 18th and 19th constitutional amendments were major achievements of the PPP-led government. But he added that the nation needed sacrifices by all sections of society to make the country economically and politically strong and a secure nation.

He said the PPP leadership was not afraid of the negative propaganda against its leadership and reminded the elements behind such campaign of the sacrifices ZAB and BB had made for democracy and independence of the people and institutions of the country.

Mr Zardari, who earlier visited the Quaid’s mausoleum  and laid a wreath to pay homage to the father of the nation on his 134th birth anniversary, called upon the people to work selflessly for the welfare of the country by following the motto of the Quaid in letter and in spirit.