International Women's Day: Zardari asks women to follow in BB’s footsteps to defeat conservatives

ISLAMABAD: Former president Asif Ali Zardari said that the need is to follow footsteps of Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto so that the conservatives could be defeated.

In a message on the eve of International Women's Day, former president said that Islam teaches us to respect women and the people who want to impose their thoughts and philosophy on the society by force are in fact afraid of human awareness. The time has gone when women were silenced and now women are getting their rightful place in the society with their effort and capability, he said. The PPP salute those women who faced violence and torture in fighting against dictatorship and fighting for democracy in this country, he added.

In the meanwhile, in a statement on Saturday on the eve of the International Women’s Day, Chairman Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has said that the women of Pakistan would not bow down to the intimidation and threats of agents of the patriarchy and misogyny.

“Women will carry forward her struggle and every Pakistani woman will become a Benazir, if she continues to fight for her rights,” he said in his message on the eve of International Women’s Day being observed across the globe on Sunday.

Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said that PPP has always strived to ensure and extend the rights of women, against the pushback from anti-women and anti-equality parties who believe in patriarchal structures. “Women and marginalised communities are the real strength of the PPP and the party will fight together with them against those who are plotting to enslave them in the chains of the patriarchy,” he said.

The PPP chairman said that the people of Pakistan had voted in the Muslim world’s first woman prime minister, and she carved the path for women in the male dominated state structures. “From appointing the first female judges to the high courts, to establishing dedicated women police stations and launching the First Women Bank to facilitate the financial empowerment of women, Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto made sure that she raised all other women with her,” he said.

He said it was again PPP which allotted lands to landless women and passed legislation to extend labour rights to the women agriculture workers. “Today, Lady Health Workers are serving in every nook and corner of the country and earning a respectful living,” he said.

Bilawal said that revolutionary social safety net Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) was launched by President Asif Ali Zardari to fulfil the vision of Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto and that BISP has been an internationally-acclaimed programme which is financially supporting the poorest of the poor women in the country.

However, he said, the Imran Khan regime was removing the picture and name of Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto from BISP Cards in an effort to reverse the message of women’s empowerment in Pakistan. “Small men in big offices would never be able to undo the cracks she made in the walls of the patriarchy. Every woman now knows that she too can be Benazir,” he said.

He further pointed out that under the People’s Poverty Reduction Programme launched on the Union Council level, 1.5 million women are getting interest free loans and have started their own small businesses, built their own homes and educated their children.

Bilawal extended assurance to the mothers and daughters of the country that as son of Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto he would always stand for their rights and his party would support each and every step on the route to the empowerment of all women and equality for all.