ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari has said that the late dictator Ziaul Haq’s policies spawned privatisation of jihad and sectarianism and the usurpers of people’s rights and freedom must be punished.

In his message on the 40th anniversary of the takeover of the country by a dictatorship on July 5, 1977, former president Zardari said that unfortunately the disastrous policy of privatisation of jihad and exploitation of religion for political ends continued to haunt the nation.

“Let us on this day vow to reverse these policies, fight the mindset of religious extremism and end the privatisation of jihad and sectarianism that the dictator’s polices spawned. Let us also resolve that dictators and usurpers of people’s rights and freedoms must be punished,” he said. “The need to clearly understand the disastrous consequences of these policies has never been as great as it is today.”

Published in Dawn, July 5th, 2017