LORALAI: Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto today [July 26] declared in two public meetings — one at Duki … and the other at Loralai … that there is only one nation in Pakistan. … Mr. Bhutto told a … crowd at the remote town of Duki … that those who talked of four nationalities in Pakistan were the enemies of the country. “There is only one nation in Pakistan; our enemies will never succeed in their nefarious designs. …” He repudiated the suggestion that the people of Baluchistan had been deprived of their democratic rights. He said it was absolutely incorrect. He had himself installed elected Governments in the provinces.

[Meanwhile, as reported from Islamabad,] the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Mr Aziz Ahmed, said here today [July 26] that Pakistan and other members of the Islamic Conference are taking steps to ensure that the present status of Jerusalem is not changed and Israeli attempts at arson and desecration … are stopped. The Minister was replying to an adjournment motion in the National Assembly on the reported fresh attempt at arson and burning of the Al-Aqsa mosque. … [He] … said it is a matter of concern that Israeli authorities have undertaken digging of foundations near Al-Aqsa.

Published in Dawn, July 27th, 2024