Address to students at Lahore on October 6, 1972

President Zulfikar Ali Bhutto while talking to a group of students belonging to various educational institutions of Lahore reiterated here that his Government and his Party were determined to end exploitation in whatever form it existed in the country. “We are bent upon removing all sorts of injustices done to the suffering masses of Pakistan during the last two decades, ” he added.

The President told the students that his Party believed in Islamic Socialism. Islamic Socialism, he said, was the only answer to our manifold problems and it could alone bring economic progress, social uplift and prosperity to Pakistan.

The President said that after about two decades Pakistan has now a representative Government which has intro0duced important reforms in various spheres of national activity. These reforms, he said, have yet to bear fruit. He was, however, confident that these reforms will go a long way in ameliorating the condition of the masses in the long run.

The President told the students that his Government was in its very essence and purpose a people’s government. This government, he said, stood and will always stand by the side of peasants, laborers, workers, students, in fact all the down-trodden people in the country.

The President said that the great ambition of his life was to see that Pakistan emerges as a truly independent and strong country in the comity of nations. For this purpose, he said, it was imperative that we should have an effective center and not a lame one as argued by some people. The President told the students that he had at no stage said that he wanted presidential form of Government for the country. What he wanted was that there should be such a system of Government which could really ensure Pakistan’s solidarity, integrity and prosperity.

The President advised the students to throw away lethargy. “You should work harder than before. You should throw yourselves heart and soul into you into your studies. It is only by dint of hard work and devotion to your studies that you can succeed in your mission and build this nation into a welfare state.” He said.

The students assured the President of their fullest cooperation and unflinching support in his nation-building mission. The students told the President: “We will stand by you through thick and thin as we did in the past.”