RAWALPINDI: As the clock struck midnight on April 20-21, Martial Law stood lifted and constitutional rule began in the country after three years and twenty-six days of Martial Law. The country will now be governed by the Interim Cons­titution drafted on the lines of the Gov­er­n­ment of India Act of 1935 read with the Indian Independent Act of 1947 and adopted on April 17 at the special three-day session of the country’s first popularly elected National Assembly.

… The Vice-President, the provincial Governors, the Central Ministers, and the Advisers at the Centre and in the two provinces (Punjab and Sind) tendered their resignations yesterday [April 20] to facilitate the return to democratic rule. They will be sworn in late today… . — Special representative

[Meanwhile, as reported by a staff correspondent from Peshawar,] The Supreme Court of Pakistan today [April 20] ordered the immediate release of Mr Altaf Gauhar and Mailk Ghulam Jilani… . … The judgement … concluded with the following: “The judgement of the court is unanimous. The Court has held that the assumption of power by Agha Mohammad Yahya Khan as Chief Martial Law Administrator and later as President of Pakistan was an act of usurpation and was illegal and unconstitutional.”

Published in Dawn, April 21st, 2022