hen the final results for the 1977 polls were announced they did not come up to the expectations of the PNA, which rejected it immediately. At the final tally, of the nearly 31 million voters, 16,889,183 had cast their votes, with the PPP bagging 10,148,040 or 60.lpe votes giving it 155 seats in a house of 216, as against the PNA with 6,032,062 or 35.7pc votes giving it 36 seats. The Pakistan Muslim League led by Khan Qayyum contested on nine seats and got one seat, while the independents received 709,081 votes or little over 4pc with eight seats.

Irrespective of their political affiliation, the people had spent the whole night glued to their TV and radio sets.

The PTV had arranged a special transmission for election results, later claimed to be the longest live coverage, during which it broadcast various programmes on the subject. With PTV having little credibility, majority of the people tuned in to British BroadcastingCorporation (BBC) which was equally popular among the rural and urban people. Listening to and believing the BBC was, in fact, the continuation of a credibility it had earned since Ayub Khan`s official machinery was converted into Pakistani Goebble`s machinery, and was bent upon telling lies to the people.

The hurried decision to introduce television in Pakistan in the 1960s was also the political need of` Ayub Khan.

Bhutto did not change the character and role of` the off`icial media to an independent source of information. Even today, both the institutions continue to play the role of the mouthpiece of the government which widened the gap of credibility that could not be filled despite the passage of over l`ive decades.

The BBC Urdu service became the main source of information and in no time, everybody was in a position to compare the two information sources.

The newspapers were divided in two blocks. The scarcely-read newspapers belonging to the National Press Trust (NPT) and a few small papers feeding on government advertisements beeped with little effect on people`s minds. The other newspapers had broken the government`s restrictions and tried to portray the correct picture and left the reader to wait for further information.

Some even dared to publish photographs that had been reportedly acquired from waste dumps. Prof`essor Ghafoor Ahmad of the Jamaat-i-Islami claimed that in some polling booths theresults showed more votes cast for the PPP candidates than the actual number of registered voters at that booth.

The next day (March 8), the PNA called an emergency meeting of its working committee. The meeting discussed reports from all over the country and statements of PNA leaders Maulana Mufti Mehhmood from Dera Ismail Khan, Asghar Khan from Rawalpindi and Mian Tufail from Lahore. All spoke of irregularities and high-scale rigging and reports of violence allegedly initiated by PPP activists resulting in the death of nearly 300 people while leaving many injured. Arson and looting were also reported from many places. It also discussed the situation of the elections for the four provincial assemblies scheduled for March 10, and claimed that the results of these polls had already been prepared.

Af`ter the day-long deliberations, the Alliance announced the rejection of the results of` March 7 elections and decided to boycott the provincial assemblies` elections. It directed its electedcandidates of the National Assembly to resign immediately. A complete strike was announced for March 11 to be followed by a countrywide agitation to pressure the government to adopt a legal poll process.

In Karachi, where the PNA had bagged nine out of 1I seats, the situation grew quite tense and skirmishes took place; it was feared that the violence might spread to other cities. The army units and police continued to patrol the roads and streets of major towns.

The next evening, Bhutto called a press conference in which he rejected the PNA claims of `rigging` and claimed that the results were according to his expectations. Despite repeated persuasions by his close aides, he announced that the polls for the provincial assemblies would be held as scheduled which would clear the opposition`s claims. He called upon the people `... to turn out for the vote with full vigour and enthusiasm, no less than they showed for the National Assembly polls`. He assured them that they must not fear for their security as `there would be no law and order problem`.

He rejected his PM House associates` plea for postponing the provincial elections by saying that it would be tantamount to admitting wrongdoing. He thought that if there had been some kind of illegality during the NA polls it should be properly cast off by the PA elections. E shaikhaziz38@gmil.com