A political legacy forged in courage

In 1967, Pakistan witnessed the birth of a political movement that had been gathering strength long before it found a name. The debates surrounding the 1965 war and the Tashkent Agreement had unsettled public confidence and stirred a nationwide demand for representation, dignity and direction.

It was in this climate that Zulfikar Ali Bhutto founded the Pakistan Peoples Party in Lahore, giving political shape to a restlessness already present in the streets, campuses and working-class neighbourhoods across the country.

The party’s purpose was unmistakable. It sought to build a state rooted in democratic participation, economic fairness and national pride. Zulfikar Ali Bhutto expressed this vision in the language of his time, declaring that Islam is our faith, democracy is our politics, socialism is our economy and all power to the people. What followed reshaped the foundations of Pakistan.

The unanimous constitution of 1973 established a democratic framework that endures to this day. The nuclear programme secured the country’s defence. Land and labour reforms expanded economic and political space for millions. In the decades that followed, the PPP would give Pakistan a democratically elected president, several prime ministers and, in time, the country’s youngest foreign minister in Bilawal Bhutto Zardari.

These achievements were built on sacrifice. Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s judicial execution in 1979 was intended to silence a movement, but instead strengthened it. Benazir Bhutto carried that mandate with exceptional courage. She confronted dictatorship, endured imprisonment and exile, and led the struggle for democratic restoration with her enduring reminder that democracy is the best revenge. Her assassination in 2007 remains one of Pakistan’s most painful ruptures.

Yet the burden of sacrifice did not fall only on the leadership. It fell equally on the jiyalay and jiyaliyan who faced lashes, prisons and bullets but refused to surrender their political voice. Their courage forms the spine of the PPP’s democratic struggle and a core reason for its endurance across generations.

When Pakistan entered another moment of fragility in 2008, Asif Ali Zardari steadied the nation with the unifying call Pakistan khappay. His leadership restored parliamentary authority, secured the 18th Amendment and delivered the Seventh NFC Award. 

These reforms rebalanced power between the federation and the provinces, protected provincial rights and strengthened Pakistan’s federal structure at a time when institutional clarity was urgently needed.

The party’s work in the present continues this trajectory. After the devastating 2022 floods, the PPP led the country’s largest public reconstruction effort. More than 2.1 million climate-resilient homes are being built for displaced families under a PPP-led government in Sindh. This effort is not only about rebuilding structures.

It is about restoring dignity and offering a model of climate justice in one of the world’s most climate-vulnerable countries. Alongside this work, the PPP has expanded social protection, improved public health through the People’s Health Programme and defended provincial autonomy against efforts to shrink provincial shares in the NFC. These are not technical matters. They shape how Pakistan’s federation functions and how fairly the state serves its people.

A new generation now carries this political tradition forward. Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, Pakistan's youngest foreign minister, brought clarity and composure to the country’s engagement with the world. His assertion that we will not let history write Pakistan as a failed state reflects a generational confidence grounded in democratic principles. 

Aseefa Bhutto Zardari, now Pakistan's First Lady, represents continuity with purpose. Her long-standing work on polio eradication, public health and women’s empowerment highlights a leadership grounded in service, equity, and the needs of communities often overlooked in national policymaking.

The PPP’s responsibility today goes beyond honouring the past. It is about extending that legacy into the demands of the present. Pakistan is navigating climate pressure, economic strain and shifting global dynamics. In such a moment, the country requires political actors who can provide steadiness when politics falters and constitutional clarity when institutions hesitate.

The PPP’s strength lies in its ability to combine political memory with contemporary relevance, turning experience into foresight and public demands into democratic direction.

The movement born in 1967 was never meant to stand still. It was built to evolve with the country it sought to serve. And that evolution continues in legislative debates over provincial rights in reconstruction efforts after a climate disaster and in the conviction that Pakistan’s future must be built on the rights, dignity and participation of its people.

The writer is a member of the National Assembly. She holds a PhD in Law, and serves on the National Assembly’s Special Committee on Kashmir.

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