Mrs. Nusrat Bhutto injured Dec. 17, 1977
This was a historical event that I personally witnessed on December 17, 1977 at Qaddafi Stadium, Lahore. My friend Azam and I were watching a cricket test match between Pakistan and Australia. Our seats were in a section right above the ladies enclosure. If I remember correctly it was a couple of hours into the game when we heard loud chanting of political slogans from below. We were not sure what it was, since the large shed that hangs over the woman’s enclosure obstructed our view. Later we found that Mrs. Nusrat Bhutto and young Benazir Bhutto were in the ladies enclosure below us. They were protesting for the release of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto (former prime minister of Pakistan) who was in jail facing alleged murder charges. Bhutto’s elected government was removed on July 5, 1977 by General Ziaul Haq’s coup.
All the cricket players rushed to their quarters as the police moved in to apparently calm the crowd. Suddenly the police started lathi-charge in the women’s enclosure; Now we could clearly see the scuffle between PPP supporters and the police. During this brawl I saw police baton or it may even be a bottle of coke thrown back by the police injuring Mrs. Nusrat Bhutto. I saw blood gushing out from her head. While all this was going on the rest of the stadium was being evacuated except for our enclosure. There was no way out for us; we were surrounded by police who were shooting teargas shells in our direction.
The angry mob started throwing anything they could find on police. In seconds the angry mob broke the fence that separated the cricket field from the audience. Few of the PPP workers escorted Mrs. Bhutto and Benazir to the upper enclosure where we were stranded. They stood just few feet away from us. I saw Benazir tearing her dopatta (scarf) and wrapping it around her mother’s head.
It seemed that we had no way to escape this mess, when a huge man carrying six crates of Coke bottles appeared from behind us. He placed the crates on the ground and shouted, “Through the bottles!!! (at the police) if you want to live” Surrounded and with no other choice the stranded started tossing bottles towards the police. This forced the police to temporarily retreat, which gave us a chance to escape. Outside the stadium every thing including buses, cars, and even trees, bushes and shrubs were on fire. We were lucky to find our bike in the parking area that narrowly escaped of being torched.
It is said that Mrs. Bhutto’s head wound never received proper or timely treatment and it left an ever-lasting injurious effect that gradually disabled her for life.
