ISLAMABAD, March 22: Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) chairperson Benazir Bhutto has urged the nation to strive for restoration of democracy and upholding the rule of law.

In her Pakistan Day message to the nation, she said, “let us, on this day, resolve to fight the urge of the dictators to amend the Constitution to perpetuate themselves in power. Unless there is democracy, supremacy of the Constitution and rule of law, the future of our country will remain exposed to internal and external threats.”

Ms Bhutto said, while celebrating the day, “we must also think why every now and then power seeking individuals, holding guns in their hands, subvert the Constitution, derail the democratic process and drift the nation away from the lofty ideals for which this great homeland was achieved”.

She said March 23 was a special day, as 62 years ago, on this very day, the Muslims of the South asian subcontinent, through a formal resolution, expressed their firm resolve to achieve a separate homeland, wherein they could live with democratic freedom and also fashion their lives in accordance with their own values, culture, and traditions.

Through an unprecedented democratic struggle under the leadership of the Quaid-i-Azam, the Muslims of the subcontinent achieved their objectives within a short span of seven years. “On this auspicious occasion, I wish to greet the entire Pakistani nation”, she added.

“When our founding fathers resolved to carve out an independent state, they had in mind a place where Constitution, democracy and the rule of law reigned supreme,” the PPP chairperson said.

However, she added, it was a sad thought, that today in Pakistan, the Constitution had not only been suspended, but was being recast, not through any mandate as provided for in the Constitution, but, by brandishing the coercive apparatus of the state. All state institutions have been made subservient to the will of an individual, she added.

PPI ADDS: The PPP has condemned the government’s decision of imposing general sales tax on medicines and demanded its immediate withdrawal.

The party secretary information and former senator, Taj Haider, in a statement on Friday, said the decision was thoughtless and would adversely affect the poor and impoverished people.

He feared the drug retail price would increase exponentially. Due to devaluation of dollar, he said, the prices of imported and locally-manufactured drugs should have come down, rather than increased.

Mr Haider said, with new taxation, the government would gain an additional revenue of over Rs4 billion, three months before the new budget. Where will this money go? Or, it will be lost in those “secret quarters” of budget to which even the elected representatives have no access, he added.

He stressed the need to bring down the prices of essential and life-saving drugs, adding, even in the existing budgets, free medical cover could be extended to the people for 85 per cent of the common ailments.

Meanwhile, the PPP chairperson has congratulated the party secretary-general and former federal minister Chaudgry Ahmed Mukhtar on his acquittal from NAB cases.