KARACHl: Activists of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) observed `black day` in several Sindh towns on Friday to condemn Gen Ziaul Haq`s coup detat against Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto`s elected government on July 5, 1977.

The ruling party`s workers staged rallies and organised seminars and other programmes to highlight what the party leaders termed a `tragic event in Pakistan`s democratic history.` In Karachi, a large number of party workers gathered at the party`s headquarters called People`s Secretariat where leaders made speeches and shed light on the party`s struggle against dictatorship, terming it the `worst phase in its history.` PPP Sindh president Nisar Khuhro, secretary Senator Waqar Mehdi and the party`s Karachi chapter`s president Saeed Ghani recalled how Mr Bhutto`s government was toppled by the military dictator to stop democratic process.

They termed dictatorships `a menace` which fed terrorism and extremism and vowed that the party was committed to protecting democracy and upholding supremacy of parliament. The 18th Amendment had in fact strengthened democracy and parliamentary system in the country, they said.

In Naudero, Larkana district, PPP workers wore black armbands and took to the streets to mark the black day. Aijaz Leghari, general secretary of PPP Larkana district chapter and chairman of district council, led a procession which converged on local press club.

In Nawabshah, A large number of party workers and representatives of local bodies went in procession to Bhuttos` mausoleum in Garhi Khuda Bakhsh Bhutto, laid wreaths and offered fateha on the graves of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, his daughter Benazir Bhutto, and sons Mir Murtaza Bhutto, Mir Shahnawaz Bhutto.