There was no issue of the paper on Dec 26, 1972, on account of the Quaid’s birth anniversary. The following is an excerpt from the previous day’s edition.

EDITORIAL: Year after year, as an impersonal routine, an assessment is attempted of the prevailing state of affairs on the Quaid-i-Azam’s birth anniversary. … All kinds of skilful formulations are used to describe the situation resulting from the fall of Dacca. … It is claimed with considerable ingenuity that we have become ‘stronger than before’. Which is sufficient justification to double the size of the administration even though the country has been halved. … Nobody seems to mind that all this is putting a strain on the credulity of the people. …

To claim that we have established democratic institutions in the country is absurd. If anything, we have put these institutions … under greater stress. … Unemployment and poverty have increased, production has declined and labour has not acquired any sense of security or participation. The same is true of the educational sector… . The most unfortunate thing is that we have learnt no lesson from the disaster of December 1971.

Published in Dawn, December 26th, 2022