PPP observes black day to protest against Bhutto’s 1977 ouster

The Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) held a demonstration in Karachi on Monday to protest against the July 5, 1977 black day, when the democratically elected government of prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was ousted by the military.

The demo was organised at the Hassan Square intersection on University Road by the PPP’s chapter in Karachi’s District East. The participants of the protest held placards to record their grievance against the unconstitutional and undemocratic act of 44 years ago.

PPP Sindh General Secretary Waqar Mehdi said on the occasion that July 5 was considered the blackest day in the history of Pakistan because a dictatorial ruler had used his unbridled power to deprive the people of their democratically elected government.

Mehdi said the ruler had ruled Pakistan in a sheer dictatorial and autocratic manner to penalise the people of the country. He said the history of the country from 1977 to 2007 was replete with such tragedies against the democratic rule in the country.

He also said that a false and baseless criminal case had been instituted against former PM Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, adding that he was later judicially murdered. The PPP leader said activists and supporters of the PPP in large numbers had been incarcerated during the then dictatorial rule in the country, while several of them had been beaten and hanged.

He said that despite all these atrocities and brutalities, the workers of the PPP continued their struggle for the restoration of democracy in the country. He pointed out that the same venue of Hassan Square had been used in the dictatorial regime of the past to hold a protest demonstration in a similar fashion. He said that in the past the local police force had been used against the workers of the PPP by lodging false cases against them.