Former Prime Minister, Benazir Bhutto, speaks.

Rulers should remember the Fate of former allies like Saddam and Pinochet .... Former PM of Pakistan, Benazir Bhutto.. . KARACHI: PPP Chairperson Benazir Bhutto has warned that it will be a big mistake if the government rig the elections in 2007 as they did in 2002 and advised the regime against thinking about any such plan as the situation was no longer what it was after 9/11 She said this in her message, which was read out at her 52nd birthday celebrations held at Bilawal House on Tuesday. She said that the elections in 2002 were held just a year after the world changing events of 9/11 but now the global scenario was totally different. Allies can become redundant as in the case of Saddam Hussain, the Afghan Mujahideen, Pinochet of Chile and the Shah of Iran who was were all allies at one time. She said that those people who think that they will continue forever because they are now allies are making the biggest mistake of their lives. The former Prime Minister urged to build a modern state on the foundations of an Islamic, federal, democratic, egalitarian and unanimous constitution which the party gave to the country. "We need to revert to the Constitution of 1973 that called subversion of the constitution through military intervention an act of treason". Benazir said there was need to re-build the foundations of education and industrialisation in the country. Our labour and working class cry out for the modernisation of labour laws to give them dignity and incentives to contribute to the welfare of the country. Small farmers, peasants and ordinary citizens need to be liberated from repression and cruelty, she said. "Personally my family and I have suffered the rigours of exile and the pains of having been separated from my people at the hands a vengeful junta bent upon victimisation to consolidate dictatorship." she said. "However, these personal difficulties are insignificant when I think about the pain, the sufferings and humiliation heaped on millions of my countrymen who have been deprived of their most basic right- the right to choose their own government." She said that the nation was witness to the brutal and barbaric break up of the peaceful citizensí rally to receive their leader Asif Ali Zardari at Lahore airport, adding that the world also saw how the war against terror was abused, as noted by Amnesty International, against political opponents of the regime when PPP workers were wrongfully charged under the anti-terrorism law for receiving Zardari. "We also witnessed how a new Prime Minister was chosen who can not even win a union council seat if he is not supported by the regime. We saw the unravelling of the so called set up of 2002 as General Musharaf broke his promise to take off his uniform fearing the pathetic state of the political orphans that the intelligence agencies had put together", she said. She pointed out that this year the Senate finally got a leader of opposition from the PPP and this year the regime claimed that it would seek political reconciliation. However, its tall claims of creating an even playing field were badly exposed when the rights given to MMA and to the ruling party were not allowed to the PPP. She said that the forthcoming local bodies’ elections will be another test case to see if the regime is capable of having fair elections. "We in the opposition have serious doubts about the ability of the regime to hold fair elections." She said that the people still revered the late ZA Bhutto and the rulers were still afraid of his legacy and thatís why they wanted her to give up politics and to stay in exile. Benazir said she was proud to lead the PPPP and thanked the people of Pakistan for the confidence they have reposed in the PPP. "PPP will always stand by the people of the country, by the downtrodden, the oppressed, the discriminated, the exploited and the voiceless. The suffering of the people is our suffering just as our suffering is the suffering of the people. Our bond is one and it is unshakeable", she said.