Campaigning Continues Public Speech at Lahore, November 3, 1970
Elections are being held on the 7th of December. The time for speeches is almost over. Now you have to take an important decision as to which party to support. I only want to request you to please take into account and give serious consideration as to who has served Pakistan well in the past. We have served Pakistan even at the risk of our lives. We are capable of serving you in the future as well. You have to take into account the political conduct and contribution of all the candidates. You must try to understand the political background of each of them, and also what capabilities they possess to serve the nation.
The Pakistan People’s Party is the party of the masses. It has come into being only for the poor people, workers and the peasants. This is your party while other parties are the stooges of the capitalists who want that the system of exploitation should be perpetuated in Pakistan. They have sucked the blood of the people and have mercilessly looted them. They are fighting against this party. You have seen that Maulana Maudoodi has issued an appeal to General Sarfraz and Dr. Javed Iqbal that only one of them should contest against Bhutto to try to defeat me. It is not the person of Bhutto that they want to defeat because there is no personal enmity between us; they want to defeat the people of Pakistan. They want that the shackles binding the people of Pakistan should not be broken. They want that the exploitation of the common man should continue. That is why Maulana Maudoodi is issuing appeals that only one candidate should contest against Bhutto. He wants me to be defeated. Why is he so keen that Bhutto should be defeated? Is Bhutto not a patriot? Has not Bhutto been the Foreign Minister of Pakistan? Has not Bhutto served this country?
It is because our enemies are the enemies of the people. They claim that they are “Islam Pasands” but they do not follow even the basic principles of Islam. Islam does not teach any discrimination between Muslims whom it enjoins to live as brothers. There is no question of any territorial consideration in Islam but these “Islam Pasands” are propagating that Bhutto, being a Sindhi, should not contest from the Punjab. If they were true Muslims and true Pakistanis they would not have raised such questions. Our enemies are raising objections on my contesting from the Punjab, Sindh and Sarhad. I want to make it clear that I am doing so because I want to prove to the enemies of Pakistan that our nationalism is based on very sound foundations. It will be proved by my election from the Punjab, Sindh and NWFP. It will prove that there is unity of thought and action between the people of different areas.
When India attacked Lahore I did not say that because the Punjab had been attacked I was going to Sindh, my home province. I am determined to serve my motherland. I have to serve every poor man in Pakistan whether he comes from the Punjab or Sindh or Sarhad or Baluchistan or Bengal. The poor people of Pakistan are the pillars of this nation. We have to strengthen them. I am sure that you will take the right decision and do justice. On my part, I can assure you that we shall eradicate poverty, misery and hunger from Pakistan. Why can’t Pakistan progress and prosper while all other countries have done so? Only the right type of leadership is needed, the leadership of the people who have experience of political administration and who are full-time politicians. General Sarfraz has been a failure in his own profession. How can he be successful in my profession? He had run away from the Lahore front. How can he contest on the political front of Lahore?
My dear friends, I am sure that you will make the Pakistan People’s Party succeed because this is your own party. This party is making every effort to establish a people’s rule in the country. It will uproot capitalism and establish the system of Islamic equality. This is our ambition and we are devoted to it. We have served you in the past and we shall serve you in the future. We shall accept your decision as final because it is one of our principles that the people’s verdict is always right.