If-I-am-assassinated-by-Shaheed-Bhutto

upside down. We did not flog journalists, nor did we steal the printing press ofthis newspaper, nor stop its publication for a single day. The great squeezesuggested by the minister for information and Broadcasting was.(a) To stop all government advertisements. The recommendations wereconfined to government advertisements, and since this is the patronage ofgovernment it can be worth drawn by the government.(b) To start an inquiry into the incime-tax return of the editor. Nitherharassment nor the imposition of false and punitive income-tax demands weresuggested. It was perfectly legitimate for the government to conduct an open andlegal inquiry into the lucrative business of this newspaper with a circulation ofabout 80, 000 copies a day.(c) To ask the Government of the Punjab to make an inquiry into theproperty acquired by the editor. This recommendation is not objectionable.(d) To tell all private concerns to stop sending advertisements to thepaper. I did not repeat not agree with this recommendation. This can be verifiedby glancing at the advertisements published in this newspaper during the periodin question.(e) To ask all provinces, autonomous and semi-autonomous bodies to stoppurchasing copies of this paper. This was such a childish recommendation that itwould have hurt the minister if I had told him that he was being childish.The White Paper says that I approved “this rather Draconian suggestionon April 26 th 1977. “I leave it the people of Pakistan to judge whether thissqueeze, even if implemented in full, is more Draconian than what the junta hasdone and is doing to the press and journalists of Pakistan. In making thisevaluation, I ask them to ignore the persecution, victimazation and forfeiture ofmy newspaper and the press. The illegal and forcible seizure of the People’sFoundation together with the printing press and Hilal-i-Pakistan is theft. Itrequires the amputation of both hands of the regime according to its ownstandards. Let us leave those things aside. But I cannot leave aside the floggingof journalists. We cannot forget the closure of ‘Al Fateh’ and ‘Meyar’. We cannotforget the summary punishments awarded to our comrades by militarytribunals. As I write, journalists are being arrested by the regime. More of themhave been on hunger strike in the last six months than the total number whowent on hunger strike in the last 30 years.At page 393 it is stated that “Mr. Yahya Bakhtiar’s Chairmanship did notresult in any soft corner in the heart of the Committee for the profession to whichhe belonged.” This thoughtful compliment to Mr. Yahya Bakhtiar, the thenIf I am Assassinated; Copyright © www.bhutto.org 67