PPP workers at national, provincial and district levels will celebrate the 85th birth anniversary of former prime minister and founder of Pakistan People’s Party, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto in a befitting manner today.
By forming the PPP in 1967, Bhutto laid the foundation stone of a democratic process in the country.
He gave Pakistan a constitution which was passed unanimously by the National Assembly and he also initiated the nuclear programme. Zulfikar Ali Bhutto served as the country’s president from 1971 to 1973 and as prime minister from 1973 to 1977.
Radio Pakistan will broadcast a special transmission titled “Zinda Hey Bhutto Zinda Hey” today to pay homage to the founding chairman of the PPP. Bhutto’s personality, his revolutionary struggle for democracy and his services for the country and the nation will be highlighted in the special transmission on Pakistan Television Network.
Maulana Mohammad Ali Johar’s death anniversary observed: Veteran Muslim political leader and one of the heroes of the Pakistan movement, Maulana Mohammad Ali Johar was remembered on his death anniversary on Friday.
Maulana Muhammad Ali Jauhar, born in 1878 in Rampur in India, served as director of education in Rampur state, and later joined the Baroda civil service.
Being a brilliant writer and orator, he wrote for major English and Indian newspapers and also launched the weekly Hamdard and English Comrade in 1911.
After moving to Delhi in 1913, Mohammad Ali worked hard to expand the Aligarh Muslim University, then known as the Mohammedan Anglo-Oriental College. He was one of the co-founders of the Jamia Millia Islamia in 1920, which was later moved to Delhi.
Mohammad Ali attended the founding meeting of the All India Muslim League in Dhaka in 1906, and served as its president in 1918. He remained active in the League till 1928.
He represented the Muslim delegation that travelled to England in 1919 in order to convince the British government to influence the Turkish nationalist Mustafa Kemal not to depose the Sultan of Turkey, who was the Caliph of Islam. British rejection of their demands resulted in the formation of the Khilafat committee which directed Muslims all over India to protest and boycott the government.
He was arrested by British authorities and imprisoned for two years for what was termed as a seditious speech at a meeting of the Khilafat Conference.
He was elected as President of Indian National Congress in 1923.
He re-started his weekly Hamdard, and left the Congress Party.
He opposed the Nehru Report, which was a document proposing constitutional reforms and a dominion status of an independent nation within the British Empire, written by a committee of Hindu and Muslim members of the Congress Party headed by President Motilal Nehru. It was a major protest against the Simon Commission which had arrived in India to propose reforms but containing no Indian nor making any effort to listen to Indian voices.
He died soon after the conference in London, on January 4, 1931 and was buried in Jerusalem.
