Sindh Local Government Minister Saeed Ghani has called for observing a black day at the national level on July 5 every year to mark the anniversary of the overthrow of the democratically elected government of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto in 1977.
The local government minister stated this on Friday evening while speaking at a programme held by the Pakistan Peoples Party’s (PPP) Karachi chapter at the Peoples Secretariat to mark the anniversary of the July 5 military takeover.
The event was attended by a large number of PPP leaders, local government representatives, office-bearers and activists from every district of Karachi. Ghani said had there been no July 5, 1977, in Pakistan’s political history, the parliament would have been strengthened with no issues of religious extremism or the spread of Kalashnikov and heroin cultures in the country.
He said the nation’s sufferings due to the July 5 military intervention in the country had been continuing till the present day. He said Bhutto had reawakened the Pakistani nation after the 1971 debacle when Pakistan was dismembered.
The Pakistani nation had been progressing well with renewed zeal and vigour in just six years due to the efforts of Bhutto, claimed Ghani, who is also the Karachi PPP president. He recalled that leadership and activists of the PPP were subjected to oppression and atrocities after July 5, 1977.
The PPP’s workers and supporters were hanged, flogged and imprisoned during the subsequent martial law regime, the local government minister said, adding that every worker of the PPP remained steadfast against the suppression of the military rule.
He said Pakistan would not have suffered a division based on religion and sects had there been no martial law in the country on July 5, 1977. Ghani said former military ruler General Ziaul Haq was responsible for Pakistan’s destruction as he had been one of the worst dictators in the world.
He mentioned that Pakistan could not go back to the pre-July 5, 1977 era despite the rendering of numerous sacrifices and struggles by Parliament, judiciary and media. The nation was still under the dark shadows of the July 5 incident, he remarked.
Ghani was of the view that July 5 military intervention was not just an anti-PPP act but it was a cruel act against the entire country and its future generations. He demanded that every government irrespective of its political affiliation should observe July 5 every year as a black day. He said that conferences and seminars should held on this day to condemn the cruelty and oppression unleashed in 1977.
He said that after the July 5 military takeover, then military ruler sent fake politicians of diminished stature to Parliament. Sindh PPP General Secretary Waqar Mehdi said the PPP observed July 5 every year as a black day. He said the United States had been afraid of the late Bhutto who was a revolutionary leader. He added that there was an American conspiracy behind the overthrow of Bhutto’s democratic government in 1977.