I READ with regret F.S. Aijazuddin’s article ‘Sinking the PPP’ (May 23). In it, he said: “Pakistan People’s Party was launched on Nov 30, 1967, in the drawing room of Dr Mubashir Hassan. Its manifesto was drafted by J. Rahim, a former bureaucrat, in that small room. Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was elected as its Chairman by a coterie of founder members.”
I want to correct my learned friend by narrating the factual position about the launching of the party.
The party was not founded in one day, i.e. Nov 30, 1967, but it took two days, Nov 30 and Dec 1, with four sessions finalising the foundation of the party.
The party was not launched in a small room but at a convention (announced a month before the date) and attended by at least 300 delegates from West Pakistan, the majority of whom were from Punjab.
The venue was a ground adjacent to Dr Mubashar Hassan’s house in Gulburg, Lahore.
A day before the convention, registration of the delegates was started. Each was required to pay Rs10 to be eligible to attend and a small card was issued to her/him.
The convention started on the morning of Nov 30. Z.A. Bhutto, J. Rahim and Malik Hamid Sarfaraz sat on the stage. The opening speech was made by Mr Bhutto.
Other important delegates who attended were Malik Sharif, Hakim Abdul Latif, Mian Mohammad Aslam, Mohammad Safdar, Aftab Rabbani, A.W. Katpar, Shaukat Ali Lodhi, Mir Rasul Bakhsh Talpur, Mairaj Mohammad Khan, Begum Abad Ahmad, Khurshid Hasan Meer, Hayat Mohammad Khan Sherpao, Chakar Ali Junejo, Mujtaba Khar, Haq Nawaz Gandapur, Jehangir Khan, Imdad Hussain Jamali, Ahmad Dehlvi, Sardar Pir Bakhsh Bhutto, Mir Hamid Hussain, Mian Mohammad Aslam, Malik Naved Ahmad and Abdul Razak Soomro.
According to Mr Aijazuddin: “Its manifesto was drafted by J. Rahim, a former bureaucrat, in that small room.”
No manifesto as such was given at the convention. However, some 10 documents for the foundation meeting were given which were not contributed by Mr Rahim but they were the result of the hard work of Dr Mubashar Hassan, Z.A. Bhutto and other intellectuals.
The third and fourth sessions of the convention were held on Dec 1.
Three names for the new party were proposed (1) People’s Progressive Party (2) People’s Party (3) Socialist Party of Pakistan. Ultimately, the delegates approved Pakistan People’s Party as the name. They also approved a tricolour flag for the party. They approved ‘chairman’ as the designation of the party chief.
ABDUL RAZAK SOOMRO Founder Member of PPP Karachi
