Role of Women Address to P.P.P. Women Workers, Lahore, January 29, 1968

I shall today outline what the Pakistan People’s Party plans to do for you and for this country. We will offer the women of this country their proper place without prejudice. The place that you are given today is by chauvinistic male courtesy, as if a great favor is being done to you. Propaganda is made out of the fact that there are special seats reserved for women. Much is said about women ambassadors being appointed, but to draw an analogy, this is the kind of position the Indian government gives to its Muslim citizens. They make a Muslim the President of their country and they make a lot of noise about it in the whole world. They say, “See we have got a secular state. See, we have given a Muslim the highest position in the country.” They appoint a Muslim as a Supreme Court Judge, and then the whole world is informed about it.

We are not going to confer any such special favors on you. We are not going to give you your rights because these rights are yours. We are not going to do this in a patronizing manner. You will be given a proper place in the sense that you will make as much of a contribution as anyone else. You have to undertake these responsibilities as naturally as your own rights. No special favors will be bestowed. You will be called upon to accept difficult undertakings. You will be called upon to work for improving conditions in the rural areas. You will be asked to go and work in the rural areas to educate the people on how to live in cleanliness. I have seen in other countries, where much progress is being made, both in the East and the West, women working in the villages, working in the fields. I have seen in certain countries women in the defence forces. Why not? It is much better to defend your honor yourself than to allow usurpers and aggressors to dishonor society.

So, it is in this sense that you have every right to participate in all nation-building efforts. You have a great task ahead of you to build Pakistan. Pakistan cannot be built by only one section of its people. It is a collective effort, a total effort. All of us have to contribute, men and women, the young and the old. All of us have to harmonize our efforts and work collectively in a spirit of equality to overcome the problems that face the country. Just as it is not the right of any one individual to think that he can work for the whole country and can dictate to the whole country, similarly, it is not the responsibility of only one segment of society to undertake the work of the whole community. And I believe that in this great challenge you will have to play an important and decisive role.

The economic conditions are deteriorating. Civil liberties have been denied to the people. Corruption is increasing. Lawlessness has increased to such an extent that the honor and the security of citizens is not safe. So how can we the men, alone, face these great challenges? We require everyone’s cooperation. That is why, I urge you, I request all of you to take constructive and enthusiastic interest in the Pakistan People’s Party. This is your party. This is a party with a future. This party will Try to approach the problems of Pakistan in a new spirit, with a sense of new dedication and devotion. We will try to give a new pattern, a new outlook to the problems of Pakistan. The people of Pakistan have had, for too long, an outdated approach which modern times have made obsolete. The days of drawing-room debates and discussions and of passing resolutions and issuing statements are over. This is a time of action. This is the time to be in the field. Many countries around us have made tremendous progress and moved ahead. We will not be left behind. We must also march with the rest of the world for a better life and for a better future. There is no law of God that we here in Pakistan alone should be poor. Our country is rich. It has many resources, then why should there be poverty, hunger and disease? Why should our children not have a better future? It is their right and it is our duty to work for them so that they have better facilities for education, a better future. Their villages and towns should be clean and sanitary. There should be hospitals and schools.

We have the resources, we have the means, we have the courage, we have the stamina. What then is lacking? Surely, it is only the dedication and the spirit which are lacking and we unitedly will create this dedication and spirit. I give you that promise. We will be able to overcome these problems so that the rest of the world can say that we are a great nation, which has made great progress and achieved high standards by the collective effort of all its people.

It is for this purpose that we have brought into being the Pakistan people’s Party. If we do not have your cooperation, our task will become very difficult. As it is, it is a difficult task, with all the difficulties, the impediments, the restrictions, the victimization, the hostile attitude of the Government, the control over the press. Three friends of mine from the press are sitting here and God alone knows what they will print tomorrow. But let them print what they like. I know you will not get misled, the country will not get misled because our hands are clean, our intentions are good. We are going ahead determinedly. Our conscience is clear. We want to serve the people of Pakistan and we want a better Pakistan. Nobody can stop us from having a better Pakistan. No matter what impediments or obstructions are created, we will achieve these goals because individuals can fail but principles cannot.

When I say we must have equality it is because the principles of equality cannot fail. I may fail in my efforts to bring about that equality but somebody else will pick up the flag and go forward. There will not be a vacuum because there is no such thing as a vacuum in the service of the people. Others will step in to lead and the efforts will continue to establish equality; real and genuine equality, not the condescending equality of patronage and privilege. Poverty and exploitation must be brought to an end, no matter how much effort is wasted on trying to confuse these issues.

I have said quite clearly that Islam is our faith. Islam is our religion and the basis of Pakistan and we are Muslims. The economic policy of our party will be based on the principles of socialism and there is nothing which is in conflict between Islam and socialism. I have found no conflict in the principles of my religion and in the principles of socialism. As a matter of fact, the first seeds of socialism flowered under Islam, the Islam of the days of our Prophet, the Islam of the days of the four Khalifas. That is the Islam which gave birth to the principles and concepts of socialism. That is our Islam, the Islam of the people of Pakistan.