Democracy very dear to us as its restoration cost Benazir her life: Murad

KARACHI: Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah has said Benazir Bhutto, while struggling for the right of the people to rule in the country, laid down her life in Rawalpindi on December 27, 2007.

“The restoration of democracy in Pakistan cost her life; therefore, it [democracy] is very dear and precious to us,” he said while talking to the media on Tuesday at the ‘Memorial of the Martyrs of October 18, 2007’ at Karsaz along Sharea Faisal. He was accompanied by Sindh Information Minister Sharjeel Inam Memon.

Talking about the Karsaz tragedy, the CM said that on October 18, 2007, some 15 years ago he was with his great leader, Benazir Bhutto, on the truck. He said hundreds of thousands of people from all over Pakistan had arrived to welcome their leader at the airport.

“People were enthusiastic to see their charismatic leader and were chanting slogans ‘Benazir ayee ha, Rozgar layee ha’ (Benazir has come back to provide employment opportunities to the people) when blasts occurred which claimed 180 lives and injured over 450 innocent people,” he recalled.

He added that with the grace of Almighty Allah Benazir Bhutto had survived the attack and the very next morning she rushed to the JPMC to meet her injured workers and then proceeded to Lyari to visit the families of the workers killed in the blast.

Shah said the investigations into the Karsaz incident or the murder of Shaheed Benazir Bhutto could not be concluded because the evidence was removed from the crime scenes. “Fifteen years have passed since the Karsaz tragedy and Shahadat of Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto, but still she is alive in the hearts of people,” he said.

He added that those who were behind the conspiracy to kill her had disappeared into oblivion, which was the revenge of democracy.

To a question, Shah said the families of the Karsaz Shuhada were taken care of properly, and to remember them in the history of the country, their memorial had been constructed at Karsaz.

Earlier, the chief minister laid a floral wreath at the memorial of Shuhada and offered Fateha for them.

The chief minister said the political strategy of the PTI leadership is so naive and pathetic that despite winning six National Assembly seats in the bye-elections, they have lost their strength in the parliament.

“Earlier, the PTI had 162 seats in the National Assembly, and now despite winning six seats in the bye-elections they have reduced their strength to 156 seats - this shows how much they are politically devoid of intelligence.”

Replying to a question, the CM said Khan’s decisions reflect his political immaturity and naivety. “Had he fielded his party’s other candidates in the bye-elections instead of contesting himself he would have added six seats to his numerical strength in the National Assembly,” he said and added that Khan was not meant for politics.

Shah said PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto had termed Khan ‘selected’ in the assembly when he was made prime minister, and Khan had thumped the desk to make a mockery of the term. “Now he has publicly admitted that he was a puppet prime minister, and his strings were controlled from elsewhere.”

The CM said: “Look at his [Imran Khan] political wisdom that he has quit the parliament and now plans to throng the federal capital to wrest the government by force.”

Had Khan been a democratic-minded leader he would have chosen the way of parliament to come back to power, Shah said and warned the PTI chief that Pakistan was a democratic country and that change of government was only possible through the vote in the parliament.