LARKANA/KARACHI: The 19th anniversary of the Oct 18 Karsaz tragedy was observed with reverence and respect in all district headquarters and other cities across Sindh on Sunday.
One of the main events was held at the ‘Janisaran-i-Benazir Qabristan’ situated close to the Bhuttos’ Mausoleum in Garhi Khuda Bakhsh Bhutto. Twenty of the 175 martyrs are buried in this graveyard.
The PPP Larkana district chapter organised a ceremony where Quran Khwani was held. Prominent among those who attended it were the chapter’s President, MNA Khursheed Ahmed Junejo, District Council Chairman Aijaz Leghari, Political Secretary to Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari MPA Jamil Ahmed Soomro, Dr Sakina Gaad, Zahid Jalbani and Syed Arshad Rashdi. They paid an emotional tribute to the martyrs while speaking to a large number of party workers and supporters.
Fateha was recited, chadars were laid and rose petals showered on the graves of the 20 martyrs.
In their speeches, the leaders said that the Oct 18 tragedy could never be forgotten. In 2007, they recalled, a rally that set out from the Karachi Airport to accord a historic welcome to Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto on her return to the country was attacked by terrorists, who exploded two bombs at Karsaz, along the rally route.
While 175 people were killed, over 400 were injured in the twin attacks, they said.
In line with the wishes of Benazir Bhutto, those whose identity could not be established, were laid to rest in the Janisaran-i-Benazir Qabristan, they said.
Every year, Quran Khwani and prayers are held here and tributes paid to them in this graveyard. They vowed to continue this tradition.
In Karachi, Sindh PPP General Secretary Senator Waqar Mehdi, Karachi president and Labour Minister Saeed Ghani and others visited the graves of the victims of the Karsaz tragedy at Azam Basti graveyard and offered fateha for the departed souls.
Talking to the media, Mr Ghani said seven victims of the Oct 18, 2007 bombing were buried at the graveyard and that the party visited their graves every year. He noted that most of those killed in the attack were young people, aged below 25.
“The party’s senior leadership has directed us not only to remember all the martyrs, but also to maintain the closest possible contact with their families,” he said.
Mr Ghani said that evidence was destroyed after the Karsaz bombing and the assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto in Rawalpindi, preventing investigators from reaching definitive conclusions about the two attacks.
Senator Mehdi said 19 years had passed since the tragedy in which more than 175 young PPP workers were killed, while hundreds of others had also suffered injuries.
PPP’s district and city level leaderships organised similar ceremonies within their respective areas across Sindh to remember the Karsaz tragedy martyrs. Quran Khwanis were held in party offices and other places in Hyderabad, Mirpurkhas, Badin, Jamshoro, Dadu, Nawabshah, Naushahro Feroze, Sukkur, Jacobabad, Shikarpur, Ghotki, Kandhkot-Kashmore, Tharparkar, Umerkot and other districts.
Published in Dawn, October 19th, 2026
