Four decades ago, on August 14, 1983, the Movement for the Restoration of Democracy (MRD), an alliance of almost all major political parties in the country, formally launched its struggle to end General Zia-ul-Haq’s dictatorship and martial law.

In the first phase, leading political figures and workers began offering themselves for arrest at major intersections and public places in cities. The movement was launched in major cities including Karachi, Lahore, Quetta and Peshawar, as well as in other parts of the country. In Sindh, the movement began with extraordinary momentum and massive public participation. Thousands of people would gather whenever political leaders were arrested in Sindh. Every day, workers would come out onto the streets chanting slogans, while crowds of people welcomed them, put flower garlands around their necks, raised slogans with them and accompanied them towards police stations. Police and other law-enforcement personnel would arrest them on the way.

Within only a few days, thousands of workers in Sindh had courted arrest. Prisons and police stations across the province became overcrowded. It became difficult for the police and administration even to keep the arrested workers in custody overnight. In some places, workers who had offered themselves for arrest at police stations were sent home at night and returned to the stations the following morning to sit there again.

According to a cautious estimate, between 20,000 and 25,000 people were arrested in Sindh during the 1983 movement, including more than 100 women. Nearly 800 people lost their lives. At that time, newspapers, operating under strict censorship, were the only regular source of news. People in cities and villages would gather every day to listen to BBC London broadcasts for information about what was happening.

During the jail-filling campaign, very large rallies were also held across Sindh. Clashes with........

© The Friday Times