ISLAMABAD: Secretary General of Pakistan People’s Party Parliamentarians Syed Nayyer Hussain Bukhari on Saturday termed July 5, 1977, as the darkest day in the nation’s history, marking the anniversary of the military coup that overthrew the country’s first democratically elected prime minister.

In an official statement, Bukhari emphasized that the imposition of martial law by General Zia-ul-Haq not only derailed the nascent democratic process but also sowed the seeds of extremism, intolerance, and institutional imbalance that continue to impact Pakistani society today.

Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto gave the unanimous Constitution of 1973. Quaid-i-Awam Shaheed Bhutto lives in the hearts of the people, he said.

Quaid-e-Awam Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto remains the center of constitutional, democratic, and parliamentary politics today. It has become an established reality that Bhutto is a thought and an ideology that can neither be eliminated, nor can anyone do so.

Nayyer Bukhari said that the elected constitutional democratic government of the people was toppled through a coup, which was a criminal act of violating the constitution and acting against the bright future of a democratic, welfare-oriented Pakistan.

Nayyer Bukhari said that Quaid-i-Awam Shaheed Bhutto lives in the hearts of the people. The purpose of Shaheed Bhutto’s politics was to place the right to sovereignty and the right to ownership into the hands of the people.

The provision of constitutional, human, economic rights, and giving a voice to the oppressed and deprived classes, was not acceptable to the enemies of the nation. A deep conspiracy was hatched against the continuity of the democratic system by ending constitutional democratic rule through the power of the vote.

The democratic government of the elected Prime Minister Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was overthrown, which was a conspiracy against the constitutional democratic state and enmity toward the country and nation.Nayyer Bukhari said that under the leadership of Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, the struggle will continue to ensure the provision of constitutional, human, and economic rights.

Published in Dawn, July 5th, 2026