The Punjab chapter of the Pakistan Peoples Party would observe July 5 (today) as a black day. On this day, 37 years ago General Ziaul Haq had dismissed the elected government of prime minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto. The military ruler imposed martial law in the country and ruled the country for the next 11 years.
The Punjab secretariat of the PPP had already issued instructions to the party activists to observe July 5 as a black day in all the districts to highlight the struggle of the PPP workers and leaders for the rights of the down-trodden.
PPP Punjab president Manzoor Wattoo said in a message that “Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, the greatest leader of Pakistan after the Quaid-i-Azam had become a powerful voice for the voiceless poor and empowered them”.
He said Bhutto sacrificed his life for democracy and the masses but refused to bow to retrogressive and anti-democratic forces.
In his message for the day, Punjab PPP Secretary General Tanvir Ashraf Kaira said Bhutto had resolutely faced “the ruthless and callous dictatorship of General Ziaul Haq”. He said history had judged Zia as a usurper and Bhutto had made the ultimate sacrifice for empowering the people of Pakistan. “He has become immortal… that is the justice of history.”
The People’s Legal Forum will observe the day by holding a function at the Lahore High Court on Saturday (today) where the party’s Secretary General Latif Khosa would be the chief guest and Kaira, the provincial secretary general, the guest of honour.
At another event organised by the PPP Labour Wing at Lahore Press Club, Senator Aitzaz Ahsan would be the chief guest and Kaira the guest of honour. Human Rights Wing of the PPP and Peoples Youth Organisation, the youth wing of the party, would also hold events to highlight the struggle of the PPP workers and leaders for democracy and the people.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 5th, 2014.
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@Safwan A very objective and thought provoking comment. Had Z A Bhutto allowed a middle class politician Sheikh Mujeeb u Rehman to assume power in the corridors of Islamabad Pakistan would have completed its journey towards undiluted democracy having a reasonable participation of middle class instead of civilian rule dominated by feudals and capitalists
@Tariq: NA was scheduled to meet on Mar 03,1971...it was postponed ..why was it postponed ? NA was not convened in Dacca as decided ( unfortunately I was a witness to all this while in Dacca watching MCC match on 2nd March 1971).
When it was postponed, Sh Mujeeb demanded provincial autonomy like it is with 4 province now, with agreement of Foreign Policy, currency & defence to be federal subject...what was wrong with that ? why ZAB did not agree with this ? he himself announced after postponing NA session, we here you there ? what re-action do one expect with such slogan ? after such an announcement Sh Mujeeb was forced to announced his 6 point agenda & all those opposition party of EP got an opportunity to support Sh Mujeeb...pls read the papers of 1971 & you will get all the answers.....There is nothing to negotiate when Sh Mujeeb party won election as a majority party & they were supposed to form the govt & ZAB & his other party members were to attend NA session in Dacca on 3rd Mar, 1971. Blame for EP debacle is squarely on Gen Yahya & ZAB...
All Pak leaders came and gone by the circumstances at the time. It was beyond the control of a just-born & crawling nation to protect itself from internal & external factors. How Pakistan is surviving in the snake-pit of geography is beyond reason & logic. It's like surviving of a tadpole in the Elephant & Rhino mud bath. Yes, the pond shrink to mare dry clay shells for many days in drought.
@Azmat Khan:
Safwan...I will respond...although Sh Mujeeb won by majority vote ZAB did not agree that power to be handed over to the majority party and the day NA session was supposed to be called in Dacca, ZAB announced that PPP will not participate, forcing Sh Mujeeb to call for provincial autonomy as per constitution, that demand too was rejected by ZAB.This forced all opponent parties in EP now BD to support Sh mujeebparty Awami league to call for independent country....an opportunity that India encashed so cleverly.....rest is history and you may get more detail from the archives of DAWN etc; and then this PPP calls themselves as democratic.....?
PPP have nothing 2 offer apart from empty slogans and rhetoric thay are tainted in corruption has a poarty thay are finished as the ppl are sick of them they cannot deliver FACT
ZAB is gone but his ideals live on. Make the most of what he left behind for the nation not motion pictures of tears, fotos and flowers. The present PPP leadership must now stop this hero worship. ZAB was a great man and duly played his part on the local and global formats of the game. Crying, wailing, and making a public outcry is wasting time and energy, not to talk of money that can be wisely spent elsewhere. It is only the newspapers that publish news of July 05, 1977 and a foto or two of the wreath laying on the grave. Look ahead PPP and stop behaving like idol worshippers. Salams
@Safwan: What did Bhutto do with your Bengali brothers in 1971.Would you please like to explain?
Both Bhutto and Zia did both good and bad things for Pakistan. Bhutto for one was partly responsible for the separation of East Pakistan (now Bangladesh), but he also increased funding for our scientific programs. Zia is mostly responsible for the huge amount conservatism in our society today, but our economy also prospered under him.
ET..please post my comment!! You are like another dictator..always controlling what free people want to say.
If that is the case, why Gen Zia not being prosecuted like Gen M ? why not Gen Ayub & Gen Yahya too ?
Had he not rigged the elections in 1977 (which he would have won in any case) this would not have ever happened. Plus, it's karma, he paid the price for what he did in 1971 to our Bengali brothers.