Landmark: Peoples Party to observe black day today

Events will be held in all major cities ‘to highlight Bhutto’s contributions to democracy’

LAHORE: The Pakistan Peoples Party Punjab chapter will observe July 5 (today) as black day in memory of General Ziaul Haq’s military coup in 1977 against Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s government and  imposition of martial law in the country.

A meeting chaired by PPP central Punjab president Mian Manzoor Wattoo decided that gatherings would be held in all major cities of the province to commemorate Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s services for democracy and to highlight the adverse impact of General Zia’s 11-year rule on the Pakistani society.

In Lahore, the Peoples Students Federation will hold an event at Al-hamra on The Mall to mark the day. PPP Punjab and Lahore chapter executive councils were directed to invite people from their nieghbourhoods to the event. Party chapters in other districts were also asked to hold similar events.

Speaking at the meeting, Wattoo said Zia’s coup was an attack on the federal constitution. He said the 11-year rule of the general would be remembered in the country’s history as an era of tyranny. “Zulfikar Ali Bhutto is the greatest leader in the country after Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah,” he said. He said Bhutto had sacrificed his life but refused to compromise on his principles.

Wattoo said Shaheed Benazir Bhutto had carried forward her father’s mission. “It was her relentless struggle that led to the restoration of democracy in the country in 1988. “The slogan ‘Charon Soubo Ki Zanjeer, Benazir Benazir’ (The chain that binds the four provinces is Benazir Bhutto) is unfounded. She (Benazir Bhutto) earned it through her contributions to the strengthening of electoral democracy in the country,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 5^th, 2015.