Fida Hussnain
The Pakistan Peoples’ Party (PPP) leaders expressed commitment for democracy and social justice in the country, saying that the democratic process must not be harmed for the sake of the country.
“The democracy will be damaged if a particular party has already struck a deal,” said the Pakistan Peoples’ Party Parliamentarians Secretary Information Shazia Marri while addressing a seminar on the pivotal role of women in the pursuit of democracy and social justice in the country. She was referring to the PML-N over their recent statements.
Farhatullah Babar, the president of the PPP Human Rights Cell, was another special guest along with Shazia Marri in the seminar while Malaika Raza and Nayab Jan moderated the whole discussion.
Several prominent figures including Faisal Mir, Maqsooma Bukhari, Salima Hashmi, Shahida Jabeen, Rubiyya Bajwa, and others addressed the audience during the seminar. The occasion was graced by the presence of notable personalities including Altaf Qureshi, Tariq Khursheed, Dr. Khalid Javaid Jan, Rana Ikram Rabbani, Shazia Javaid Jan, Aamir Nasir Butt, Fatima Malhi, Ayesha Ghori, Chaudhry Riaz, Zahid Hussain Bakhari, Naseem Sabir, and Mudasir Shakir.
“Whether the talks were held there in Minar-e-Pakistan? There was no talk about the elections at Minar-e-Pakistan. Don’t be afraid of elections,” said Shazia Marri, indirectly criticizing the PML-N which last month had held a large welcoming rally at Greater Iqbal park for Nawaz Sharif upon his arrival after four years’ long self-imposed exile in London.
“Let the people of Lahore decide and they should be given their due rights and powers to make a decision for the next prime minister,” said the PPP leader. She said it was Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto who introduced the real democracy in the country and he gave them courage to speak.
“It is a really bad thing that some people want to defame the politicians in this society,” said Shazia, adding that those who are non-democratic people were against the political workers.
She stated that the politics was not an abuse; it is a great work and they had to spread this message to the younger generation.
“The people of Pakistan should have the right to elect their prime minister,” said Shazia Marri, pointing out that they had direct contact with the public and Bilawal Bhutto Zardari was the favorite of the public.
She referred to the PML-N without naming it, saying that ‘stop saying Ladla Ladla. Such statements and indications always harm democracy,”. She said that they would raise their voice if injustice was committed with anyone but they would be at the forefront if any injustice was committed with Pakistan.
The PPP leader also said that they just demanded free and fair elections.
“Democracy is a must. And we are not worried; the people who said they had already held talks are worried,” she said, adding that they thought that such doors which harmed democracy were shut down after the charter of democracy but they were wrong as some doors were still open. “Whenever the institutions violated the Constitution, the country suffered,” said Shazia, “the solution is only in unity for the sake of the country.
Farhatullah Babarhighlighted the significance of democratic values and the need for inclusive representation.
