KARACHI: Chairman Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on Monday termed the 5th July 1977 as the blackest day in the history of the Pakistani nation and said that General Zia’s dictatorship is the mother of extremism, Kalashnikov and drug culture in the country.
On the occasion of the 45th anniversary of July 5, 1977 when a tin-pot dictator overthrew the government of Prime Minister Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, the first elected Prime Minister of Pakistan at the hands of the worst dictator in history, Chairman PPP further said in his message that the political, economic and social ills that Pakistan is suffering from goes back to the dark days of General Zia.
General Zia added the poison of linguistic and sectarian thinking in the political and social life of Pakistan and narrowed the ground for democratic and federalist political parties. He pointed out that to remove Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto from the political arena, the stage of judicial assassination was prepared at the one hand while on the other, PPP’s other leaders and workers were either locked up in jails and flogged publically or forced into exile.
PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said that the people of Pakistan fought valiantly against dictator General Zia and his brutal regime and are still struggling against his mindset and remnants. “I salute all the political leaders and activists involved in MRD movement, including Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto, Madr-e-Jamhooriat Begum Nusrat Bhutto and Jiyalas of that era, who not only worked tirelessly for the restoration of democracy in the country but also made unparalleled sacrifices.
Chairman PPP reiterated his commitment that his Party would continue to play the role of defender of the constitution, democracy and parliamentary supremacy in the country, as it is, in fact, torchbearers of the ideology and vision of Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah