RAWALPINDI: All privately managed colleges in the country excepting one in the NWFP stood nationalised as the clock struck twelve at midnight tonight [Aug 31] under Martial Law Regulation Number 118 which was promulgated four months ago, it was announced by the Central Education Minister Abdul Hafeez Pirzada... . There are 175 privately managed colleges in Punjab and 97 in Sind. … There was no private college in Baluchistan and only one in NWFP.

[Meanwhile, as reported by news agencies in Karachi,] President Zulfikar Ali Bhutto announced ... that the permanent Constitution of Pakistan will be based on the federal parliamentary system and will ensure maximum provincial autonomy. About the demand for lifting of emergency and restoration of fundamental rights, he said he was all for it and would concede these as soon as the situation permits. … [H]e said India which had come out victorious from the 1971 war and was a much bigger country was also retaining emergency laws. He said ... that minute-to-minute existence was no good and that the country must have the umbrella of a constitution. ... He said he was convinced that differences between the judiciary and the executive on the one hand and the people on the other should not be allowed to emerge.

Published in Dawn, September 1st, 2022