World award for tolerance renamed after Benazir Bhutto

VIENNA: Pakistan People�s Party Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari presented the Benazir Bhutto Tolerance Award to actor Claudia Cardinal on Thursday. The award has been renamed after Benazir Bhutto, who received it in 2005.

In his speech, Bilawal thanked the organisers for the recognition given to his mother. �By honouring my mother, you are also honouring Pakistan,� he said.

�The problems that Pakistan faces at the moment are unprecedented,� he said while referring to Pakistan in the post-Benazir period. Bilawal said the PPP government had inherited a backlog of years of political instability in the region. �The acts of terrorism in Pakistan are a blight on our society and I am deeply shocked at the recent attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team in Lahore,� he said.

But he urged the international community not to lose faith in people of Pakistan. �We are a young nation striving to find our place in the world and God willing we will fulfil my mother�s dream.�

Bilawal was accompanied by his aunt Sanam Bhutto and Pakistan�s High Commissioner to UK Wajid Shamsul Hassan.