Chairman Senate Yousaf Raza Gillani on Sunday termed July 5, 1977, a \u201cDark Day\u201d (Yaum-e-Siyah) in the nation\u2019s history, saying it was the day when the constitutional and democratic government of the country\u2019s first elected prime minister, Quaid-e-Awam Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, was unlawfully overthrown.
\nIn his message on the occasion, the Senate chairman said the unconstitutional act of July 5 was not merely the end of a government but a severe blow to Pakistan\u2019s Constitution, federation, and democratic institutions.
\nHe said Zulfikar Ali Bhutto gave the nation the consensus Constitution of 1973, which serves as the ultimate guarantee of the country\u2019s survival and security, adding that its suspension pushed the nation into the darkness of dictatorship.
\nYousaf Raza Gillani paid tribute to the sacrifices made by Quaid-e-Awam Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto for democracy and the rights of the people.
\nHe said the leadership and workers of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) had historically endured floggings, imprisonment, and even laid down their lives for the restoration and survival of democracy.
\nThe Senate chairman added, \u201cOn this day, we must reiterate our resolve that the supremacy of Parliament, the sovereignty of the Constitution, and the sanctity of the people\u2019s vote will never be compromised. Those who launched a midnight assault on democracy have faded into the oblivion of history, while the name and philosophy of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto live on in the hearts of millions.\u201d
\nHe concluded by saying that the only path to national stability and progress lay in a strong Parliament and uninterrupted democratic continuity, adding that the Senate of Pakistan would continue to play its pivotal role in strengthening the federation and upholding constitutional supremacy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Chairman Senate Yousaf Raza Gillani on Sunday termed July 5, 1977, a \u201cDark Day\u201d (Yaum-e-Siyah) in the nation\u2019s history, saying it was the day when the constitutional and democratic government of the country\u2019s first elected prime minister, Quaid-e-Awam Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, was unlawfully overthrown. In his message on the occasion, the Senate chairman said the …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":99900,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-99878","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-national"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99878","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=99878"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99878\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":99901,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99878\/revisions\/99901"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/99900"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=99878"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=99878"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=99878"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}