HYDERABAD: President Zulfikar Ali Bhutto today [July 29] categorically declared that Karachi was an integral part of Sind and none could separate it from the province. He also castigated those who raised the stunt of Sindhu Desh and added that it was an empty dream which would never materialise.

The President was addressing a citizens’ meeting at Mir Ali Nawaz Gardens at Tando Mohammad Khan this evening. He said the turbulent state of affairs in so-called Bangladesh should serve as an eye-opener to those who were dreaming of Sindhu Desh. The President apprised the people of serious development resulting from the language agitation and said that a major catastrophe had been averted. This, he added, could be possible only by his personal intervention and unstinted support of the people, otherwise the province had come to the brink of civil war. — Staff correspondent

[Meanwhile, as reported by news agencies in La­­hore,] A Police party ... seized all the under-pr­int copies of the weekly “Punjab Punch”. ... [T]he District Magistrate, Lahore, said that the paper could not resume publication in view of the fact that its declaration had lapsed... . When asked whe­­ther similar action was contemplated against “Urdu Digest” and “Zindagi”, he refused to comment.

Published in Dawn, July 30th, 2022