Scourge of July 5, 1977 still haunting Pakistan: Bilawal

ISLAMABAD: The PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has termed July 5, 1977 as the most shameful and darkest day in the history of Pakistan, saying that even today after four decades, the scourge of July 5 is not leaving the Pakistani nation behind.

“Democracy is still in its teething stage, the ground for implementation of provincial autonomy is narrow, the poor are at the mercy of plagues and locusts, the swords of unemployment hanging over the heads of the workers, the bread of two times, justice is expensive and poor is getting poorer by each passing day,” he said in a statement on eve of July 5, when in 1977, first government of the PPP was overthrown and martial law was imposed in the country.

Bilawal said that the people’s elected government and first directly elected prime minister Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was ousted by the elements who had either vanished into mid-air or living a shameful life. “The way all the characters involved in it met their fate proved that crime and sin have no legacy,” he said. The PPP Chairman said that the constitution was suspended on July 5, 1977, wrapping the democracy, suspending all the civil rights, and forbidding the process of development and hoisting the colours of the authoritarian in all directions. He said that just by promoting and protecting dictator’s personal vested interests, the foundation of dictatorial rules was laid through inventing corruption and unleashing intimidation. “Dictators have been interested in petty personal gains developing hotbeds of intolerance and extremism,” he added. Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said that the present regime is the culmination of the crime of July 5, 1977 and at the same time, now this chapter in Pakistan is about to be closed forever.

He said that the day is not far when the people’s right to sovereignty and the use of religious extremism, militancy, sectarianism and linguistics as weapons in government buildings to perpetuate their aggressive rule will be removed in the same way that many racist and hate-mongering societies today are tearing down statues of fake greats. Former president Asif Ali Zardari said in a statement on eve of July 5 that some people were dreaming to undo 18th Amendment. “If anyone attempts to undo it then it would mean attack on the Federation,” he said. He reiterated his stance that there would no compromise on the supremacy of the Constitution, Parliament, and democracy. “The Parliament is supreme institution and it was the constitutional duty of all the constitution institutions to respect it,” he said. Zardari said the democracy was not given as a gift but Shaheed Benazir Bhutto and thousands of workers of the PPP sacrificed their lives to achieve democracy in the country. “The workers not only faced the physical torture but also faces jails and gallows for the democracy in the country,” he said.