Address at Shikarpur on January 20, 1973

President Zulfikar Ali Bhutto declared at Shkarpur, that his Government would deal sternly with the thieves, law-breakers, smugglers and anti-State people, whosoever they might be.

The President was addressing a huge crowd that had assembled at Lakhigate taxi-stand during his drive round the Shaikarpur town.

The President told his audience that when his Government caught hold of any thief or anti-people or anti-State Person, some critics made the allegation that the government was taking political revenge. ”But that is not a fact. We will not take any political revenge. What we do, we do in the best interests of the people and the country.”

President Bhutto declared amidst loud cheers and thunderous applause from the crowd.

Someone from the audience requested the President not to yield to the pressure of such critics. The President replied. “Yes, we will never yield to pressures of any kind while dealing with thieves, law-breakers, anti-people and anti-State elements and smugglers.”

He reminded his audience that certain people had created trouble on the language issue some time back. The Government tool action against them “but now that the situation has become normal, we have released them. All of those detained due to the language controversy have been released.”

The President reminded the people of Shikarpur that in this very town children had been murdered and thrown in wells, and said the Government could not remain indifferent to such incidents.

He said that when the Government dealt with such heinous crimes with an icon hand, the critics made the charge against the Government that it was ending democracy. He asked: “why should we end democracy?” adding: “in fact, we have struggled for it.”

He said that he held the poor, workers and Haris, very dear to his heart because in his opinion “the poor are always good friends.”

He said that it was with the object of knowing the problems of the common people, the poor and down-trodden people, that he had undertaken the current tour of Sindh.

The President said that the Sindh Governor, the Sindh Chief Minister and the entire Cabinet were with him to know the people’s problems and find solutions. “we wish that all your sufferings should end. We have all your hardships in mind. We are conscious of them”, he declared.

He said that he was fully aware of the need for improving the law and order situation. For that purpose, bitter police arrangements were being made. The police force as well as number of police stations were being increased in Jacobabad and Shikarpur.

He said that he had asked the superintendent of Police, Sukkur to clear the area of criminals and had characters within a month. “ if there is the will, this objective can be achieved” he observed.

The President said he felt sorry that sorry that during the past 25 years, no attention was paid to the historic town of Shikarpur. Many Governments, including civil and military governments came and went during this period but they did not pay any attention to Shikarpur with the result that Shikarpur now had turned into another “Moen-jo-Daro” from the evil effects of seepage and water logging.

He said that shikarpur was an ancient town. Once it had trade routes up to Samarkand and Bukhara but now it could not trade even with Sukkur.

The President declared that he had sanctioned Rs. 12 lakh to be spent till June 1973 to counteract seepage and water logging, which was eating into the vitals of Shikarpur, once a happy and prosperous town of Sindh.

He said that there was also a drainage scheme for Shikarpur. Besides, eight tubewells would also be installed in the town.

He said that in previous years, in all 120 villages of Sind had been electrified, but during the last one year alone, under his régime, 200 villages had been electrified. He assured the audience that roads would also be improve.

He also told the audience that the People’s Rural Development Programme launched by his Government would open avenues for employment of greater number of people.

The president reminded his audience that his Government had inherited a country with a shattered economy, and with everything in a bad shape. “I tell you, when we came to power the country had no fertilizer at all, but you can question me if you find any difficulty in respect of fertilizers next years. We will import more fertilizers, urea and phosphates,” he added.

He said that the rates of paddy cotton and sugarcane had been increased to provide incentive to the growers. “With greater agricultural production, we intend o make the country self-sufficient in its requirements.”

The President referred to the devaluation of Pakistani currency and pointed out that this “economic decision” had been taken because of necessity. It was not a personal decision. Devaluation had also caused dearness but when the country becomes self-sufficient, the prices would fall.

He declared that his Government wished that black marketing and the system of rationing should end forever.

He made a fervent appeal to the people to cooperate with the Government in curbing smuggling.

He told his audience that he had found that not only smuggled Bharati ‘pans’ were available in Sukkur market but smuggled cigarettes were also being sold in Sukkur. In return for these items, the country’s wheat and sugar were smuggled out, he explained.

He declared that the smugglers would be heavily punished but observed that in its anti-smuggling campaign, the Government needed people’s cooperation.

The President assured the people of Shikarpur that the local college could be raised to higher standard and it would be able to start higher science classes.