When Chief Martial Law Administrator (CMLA) General Ziaul Haq banned political parties on Oct 16, 1979, most politicians knew which way the winds were now blowing. Despite the implications of that order, they resolved to not allow the General to become a fountainhead of absolute power.

It took them about 16 months to prepare an organised response, but on Feb 8, 1981 political forces announced the formation of the Movement for the Restoration of Democracy (MRD) to rid the country of Gen Zia’s yoke.

With the PPP taking the initiative, various political leaders began consulting among themselves in early 1981, with an objective to reach a consensus on how best to pressure the military government to hold elections as the General had been repeatedly pledging.

On Feb 6, 1981 leaders of some parties, large and small, convened at 70-Clifton to weigh up the formation of an alliance. Deliberations continued for two days and finally, on Feb 8, the MRD came into being. Constituent parties included rightist as well as leftist parties, and included the PPP, Awami National Party (ANP), People’s Movement (PM), National Democratic Party (NDP), Jiye Sindh Qaumi Mahaz (JSQM), Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (JUI-F), Sindh Awami Party (SAT), Mazdoor Kisan Party (MKP), Pakistan National Party (PNP), Qaumi Mahaz-i-Azadi and the Communist Party of Pakistan (CPP).

A four-point programme was chalked out for the struggle they were about to embark on: bringing an end to martial law; restoration of the 1973 constitution; parliamentary elections, and transfer of power to public representatives. This was undoubtedly a breakthrough for democratic forces.

Gen Zia responds by reducing the power of the judiciary to quash punishments handed down by military courts

For Gen Zia, this was all getting too unbearable.

A provisional constitutional order was issued on March 23, 1981, reducing the power of the civilian judiciary to quash detention orders slapped by military courts or to stay floggings and executions on the basis of want of evidence.

The CMLA also ordered the a crackdown on activists of the PPP; in March 1981 alone, at least 6,000 workers of the party were held, including Benazir Bhutto, who had now assumed the party’s reins. She was confined for a year in Sukkur jail, believed to be the harshest prison in the country.

Since the MRD had appealed to peasants and labourers community to participate in their movement, Gen Zia issued Martial Law Order No 54, under which death penalty was to be awarded to those labour activists who would damage public property during protest rallies.

These repressive measures and more were taken to their extremes, forcing the MRD leadership to postpone the struggle for some time. This was only the first round.

As time passed, activists of the constituent parties joined forces again and decided to re-launch the movement with renewed vigour. They chose Aug 14,1983, as the day to go into action again. This time, the campaign was led by PPP leader Ghulam Mustafa Jatoi, who perhaps took the lead so that his party and his comrades could be assured that he was not hobnobbing with the military government.

The MRD had decided to create awareness among people, for which it scheduled various protest rallies. The movement was originally to be launched simultaneously in all provinces, while the MRD lost steam in the other three provinces; it gained unprecedented popularity in Sindh.

It began in Karachi with a protest rally at Regal Chowk. Besides political workers, farmers, labour workers, students, writers all took part. This time, women also took active part in great numbers. Meanwhile, in the presence of protesting activists, Jatoi came to the venue and courted arrest. In some city centres, arrests were made in such large numbers that lock-ups and prisons became overcrowded. This forced the police to keep the detainees in some sports stadiums.

Despite provincial governments being under orders to slap severe punishments on protestors, the wave of protests did not die down. Routine arrests and punishments were made, but there were some horrifying incidents of violence too: on Sept 12, police and army personnel fired at unarmed protesters in Khairpur Nathan Shah, a highway town in Dadu district. Ten men were killed while many were injured.

A similar killing spree took place on Sept 29, 1983 on the National Highway near Sakrand in Nawabshah district. It began with a group of ordinary villagers, mostly from the village of Punhal Chandio (near Sakrand), lodging their protest on the highway and staging a sit-in there.

The martial law authorities came to know of this protest, and a military contingent was sent to break up the congregation. When they arrived on the scene, they saw some protestors reciting the Quran at the sit-in. The military commander ordered the crowd to leave the place immediately, but the protestors did not listen.

After exactly 10 seconds, the troops were ordered to fire into the crowd. Sixteen men were killed and more than 50 were taken to hospitals as injured. The injured were arrested while undergoing medication at the Civil Hospital, Nawabshah. In the evening the only news item broadcast by the Radio Pakistan and PTV was that an exchange of fire took place between the army and miscreants, killing 16 people.

A similar event took place in Dadu district: labourers of Piyaro Sugar Mill boarded a truck to participate in a protest. They were fired at in a similar way, killing 16 people while they were still onboard the truck.

shaikhaziz38@gmail.com

Published in Dawn, Sunday Magazine, May 24th, 2015

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