July 02, 2008	Wednesday	Jamadi-us-Sani 27, 1429

ISLAMABAD, July 1: The Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) on Tuesday announced that it would observe a black day on July 5 to condemn the imposition of martial law by late Gen Zia-ul-Haq in 1977, whereas its coalition partner, the Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N), has distanced itself from the event.

According to an announcement by PPP’s central secretariat, party co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari had advised members to observe July 5 as a black day and arrange meetings and programmes to mark the occasion.

It is interesting to note that although PPP and PML-N both condemn military dictatorships and coups in the country, the two parties observe black days to mark the imposition of martial laws on different days. The PPP has been observing the day on July 5 for the past 30 years to register its protest over the dismissal of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s government in 1977 by Gen Ziaul Haq, whereas PML-N, the main beneficiary of the Zia-era, has been observing the black day on Oct 12 for the past eight years to denounce dismissal of the Nawaz government by President Pervez Musharraf in 1999.

Members of the two parties in principle agreed that they should jointly observe black days both on July 5 and Oct 12, but said it was a “tricky issue.”

PPP spokesman Farhatullah Babar said that he personally believed that Oct 12 was also a black day as July 5 because on both occasions, an army chief toppled a civilian government.

However, he ducked a question why the two parties were not united in denouncing military takeovers. Similarly, PML-N spokesman Siddiqul Farooque said that imposition of martial laws had played havoc with the country.