ANP not to hold events to remember May 12 victims

Due to an increasing number of Covid-19 cases, the Awami National Party’s Sindh chapter has announced it will not hold any event this year in memory of those who were killed in the violence on May 12, 2007.

That day, the fighting began when then deposed chief justice Iftikhar Muhamamd Chaudhry arrived at the Karachi airport. About 50 people were killed in different parts of the city. ANP Sindh chief Shahi Syed said that the sacrifices rendered by the ANP for the restoration of the judiciary on May 12 could not be forgotten.

“But this year, the APN will not organise any event at provincial and district level because of the coronavirus situation,” Syed said. He said the workers and office-bearers had been remembering the victims during their prayers in the last 10 days of Ramazan.

“The martyrs of May 12 are still alive in our hearts. On this day, the non-violent followers of Bacha Khan come out on the streets for the restoration of the deposed judiciary and refused to bow before the then military dictator Musharraf and the terror groups he supported,” Syed said. “Today, no one knows the name of Musharraf and the terrorist group he supported,” he said. “But the followers of Bacha Khan are still present in the field today.”

The ANP leader said that the May 12 tragedy was certainly the darkest chapter in Pakistan's political history. “Because of the sacrifices of the martyrs of May 12, the judiciary in the country is today is largely independent.” The ANP believed in democracy and the supremacy of democratic institutions, he said.