Bhutto remembered on death anniversary

The 47th death anniversary of former prime minister and founding chairman of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, was observed with a special ceremony at the execution site of the former Central Jail in Rawalpindi.

The old Central Jail has now been converted into Jinnah Park. The ceremony was held at the exact location of the gallows where the late Bhutto was executed. Lawyers, PPP leaders and women activists laid floral tributes at the site and offered special prayers. Women, overcome with emotion, were seen kissing the ground of the former execution site.

Despite heavy rain from 10am till evening, party workers continued to visit the site, offering prayers. The area was covered with rose petals and flowers.

Participants demanded that the execution site and Bhutto's cell be declared a "Bhutto Memorial Cell."

PPP city president Khurram Rasool, divisional general secretary Malik Khalid Nawaz Bobby, Iftikhar Chaudhry, Punjab Ladies Wing president Samina Khalid Ghurki, Rashid Chauhan, city secretary Malik Asif Akbar and several lawyer leaders including Asad Abbasi, Malik Zaheer Arshad, Masood Shah, Aamir Fida Paracha and Rawalpindi High Court Bar president Saeed Yousaf Advocate attended in large numbers.

Others present included Asif Jadoon Advocate, Usman Farooq Satti, Tauqeer Abbasi, Punjab Council member Chaudhry Banaras, Malik Sabeeh Nawaz, Sameera Gul, Shazia Batool, Saadia Abbasi, and Shehzada Kausar Gilani.

Khurram Rasool and Khalid Bobby said that the Bhutto family and Pakistan are inseparable.

They added that their slogan in the upcoming elections would again be "Roti, Kapra aur Makan," and expressed hope that Bilawal Bhutto Zardari would be the next prime minister.