July 5, 1977 a dark scar on Pakistan: Bilawal

PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has said July 5, 1977, will forever be remembered as a dark scar on Pakistan's democratic spirit, as it was the day the people's mandate was seized at gunpoint, the Constitution was trampled upon, democracy was shackled, and the hopes of millions were extinguished by dictatorship.

According to a press release issued by the Bilawal House Media Cell on Saturday, Bilawal, in his message on the completion of 49 years of the July 5 military coup, said the dictatorship of General Ziaul Haq was not merely the overthrow of the country's first democratically elected government.

"[The coup] was also an attack on the people's fundamental right to determine their future through the power of the vote," he added.

The PPP chairman said PPP founder and former prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto endured imprisonment, faced a politically motivated trial, and ultimately embraced martyrdom but he never bowed before dictatorship.

"The tyrant believed he could silence Bhutto's voice forever, but instead awakened the conscience of an entire nation. Bhutto's ideology could not be imprisoned, his voice could not be hanged, and his vision of a democratic, progressive and egalitarian Pakistan continues to inspire and guide generations," he said.

Paying glowing tribute to his mother Benazir Bhutto, Bilawal said that after the martyrdom of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, Benazir steadfastly confronted and resisted the harshest conditions imposed on the country under dictatorship.

He said she devoted her entire life to becoming an enduring symbol of hope, courage and resilience for the people of Pakistan.

Bilawal also paid tribute to the countless PPP workers who endured imprisonment, torture, oppression and even embraced martyrdom but never abandoned the mission of democracy. He said their sacrifices transformed grief into hope and resistance into an enduring democratic movement.