Pakistan: July 5 will always be a Black Day: Bilawal

Patron-in-Chief of Pakistan Peoples Party Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said that 5th July 1977 will always be remembered as Black Day in the history of Pakistan when first democratically elected Prime Minister Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was overthrown by a tin-pot military dictator General Zia occupying the country and holding the people hostage. In a statement on the eve of 5th July, PPP chief said that grains of all evils including Kalashnikov culture, heroin and extremism were planted by the dictator into the society plunging the whole country into a mess. Terrorism of today is rooted in July 5th coup and all those responsible for it are directly or indirectly involved in the horrible conditions our nation is thrown into, he said. Paying rich tributes to Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, PPP leader said the visionary leadership of Bhutto Shaheed laid sound foundation of the state of Pakistan and gifted it with the first-ever Constitution of consensus. Meanwhile in a message, President Asif Ali Zardari denounced the abrogation of the Constitution and taking over by dictatorship 36 years ago and called upon the people to strive for protection and preservation of democracy. The aftermath of July 5, 1977 starkly remind us how one dictator spawned extremists for his political survival and how another dictatorship exploited the same extremists for promoting his political agenda. Indeed the nation is still reeling under the impact of the dictatorial take over on this dark day, he said. Sectarianism, religious extremism and private jehad were deliberately promoted by the usurper to create an artificial constituency for perpetuating his rule as a reign of terror was let loose, he said. Such is the legacy of the dictatorship that has unfortunately struck this land repeatedly.