On Jan 20, 1977 almost all newspapers published a picture of Z. A. Bhutto on the front page calling him a great leader. Getting elected unopposed has never been considered a dishonest act but in the case of the 1977 elections it proved so when 19 candidates got elected unopposed which created an atmosphere of fraudulence, especially after the incident of the Larkana seat where JI candidate Maulana Jan Mohammad Abbasi had been detained before the nomination time and released after its closure.

The Pakistan National Alliance (PNA) termed it the beginning of pre-poll rigging. Its claim proved correct without doubt when three days later, the sitting chief ministers of all the four provinces got elected unopposed. On the evening of Jan 22, the day for filing the nomination papers for provincial assemblies, Sindh Chief Minister Ghulam Mustafa Jatoi, Punjab CM Sadiq Hussain Qureshi, KP Chief Minister Nasrullah Khattak and Balochistan Chief Minister Mohammad Khan Barozai were declared elected unopposed, besides 26 other candidates of Sindh Assembly and 22 of Balochistan Assembly. Perhaps this was the crux of the PPP election plan that after getting elected, the prime minister and the four chief ministers would exclusively use their energies for other candidates. The PNA took the plea that majority of the nominations were rejected on flimsy grounds leading to the beginning of rigging. The alliance reported the matter to the Election Commission which rejected their claim leaving the ground open for the other contestants, obviously tilting towards PPP nominees.

Maulana Kausar Niazi who had been asked by Bhutto in the first week of January to arrange public meetings at important centres, had prepared a plan and actually sent it to Bhutto suggesting the beginning of public meetings from Feb 4, but Bhutto wanted to start earlier because he had decided that leaving everything to bureaucrats was an unwise act. He, therefore, decided to take the lead and go to the people as in the 1970 polls. That was absolutely wrong. Things had changed drastically and the socio-economic structure had changed so drastically that the slogan of Roti, Kapra aur Makan had become obsolete. Even his diehard followers would not listen to him. Repetition of old slogans, achievements in land reforms and labour reforms were a few things Bhutto and his lieutenants repeated too often; at the same time, Bhutto concentrated on the criticism of PNA policies and pledges in the social sector.

As opposed to this approach, the PNA was armed with a new slogan — Nizam-i-Mustafa. Much before the formation of the PNA, Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) used this catchphrase to emphasise its policy. It was JI which took active part in the formation of United Democratic Front (UDF) in March 1973. After its initial deliberations the UDF had prepared a 12-point charter of demands and presented it to the government which the front called the Islamic Declaration aimed at adopting an Islamic system.

Four years later the PNA based its electioneering on the demand of replacing the Western-dominated system with Islamic system renaming it Nizam-i-Mustafa. The slogan suited all parties. They even went ahead to convince the Shia population to support the programme.

Judging the growing popularity of PNA’s slogan, Bhutto tried to appease the religious segment but his advisers were still far from accepting the reality. To show his regard for Islamisation Bhutto declared Friday instead of Sunday as the weekly holiday from July 1, 1977.

When the electioneering through mass contact began, the PNA wanted to launch it on March 23 from Karachi. Incidentally, the PPP also wanted to begin it from Liaquat Bagh on the same date. At the Rawalpindi meeting the thrust of Bhutto’s speech was the PNA and its policies, claiming that every component party of the alliance had a different direction and if they gained power it would last for three months. As against this the PNA public meeting at Nishtar Park Karachi was a better and disciplined show; perhaps because it was after a long time that they had been able to gather and hear leaders without the fear of being treated harshly at the hands of the police.

This was the beginning and much lay ahead.

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