LARKANA: Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto has said that the people of Pakistan are poised for meeting the nation’s destiny as a sovereign, united, cohesive State within the larger Muslim brotherhood. In a message issued on … Eid-ul-Fitr, the Prime Minister has said: “On the happy occasion of Eid-ul-Fitr, I offer my greetings to all members of the Millat, in Pakistan and abroad.

“Since the last Eid, the two issues that have exercised our minds most are related to the Ahmedi question and the tribal strife in Baluchistan. The first involved a problem with a 90-year-old history. … By national consensus, a Muslim State has resolved a theological issue and banished the violence attendant upon it.

“The other issue has been given the colouring of a repressive military operation in Baluchistan, by certain foreign interests, who found ready support from certain elements, identifiable within the country. … The issue of Baluchistan is one of the assimilation of a backward region into the socio-economic framework of a progressive Muslim State. This goal is being steadily fulfilled. … [L]et me add also that with the ending of the long vigil of … Ramazan, we end also our long vigil in Baluchistan.”

Published in Dawn, October 18th, 2024