On May 12, 2008 the legal fraternity, political parties, civil society and the people of the country observed the first anniversary of May 12, 2007 Karachi carnage, which would be remembered as a shameful day in our history.
This day the top adjudicator of the country was ‘detained’ at Karachi Airport for more than eight hours and wasn’t allowed to come out and go to the Sindh High Court to address a ceremony being held in connection with the golden jubilee celebrations of the Supreme Court of Pakistan.    
The lawyers, members’ civil society, political activists and common men were forcibly restrained from going to the airport to accord welcome to the chief justice. They were not only restrained but also 50 of them were mercilessly murdered in broad daylight with impunity by gangsters.        
On this day the law enforcement agencies personnel remained absent or indifferent to the acts of terrorism in the city.
The tragedy will forever stand out as a major stigma on the then government's resume.
When innocent people were being murdered in Karachi, the president, who was also chief of the army staff, then, termed it as a ‘manifestation of public power’ at a rented-crowd in Islamabad.
He not only termed it as a demonstration of public power but also warned the opponent of repetition of such demonstrations. “I ask them not to come in the way of public power… they would be crushed.”
In the daylong killing spree, about 50 people were killed, majority of them were political activists of Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), Awami National Party (ANP), Jamaat-i-Islami (JI), Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), Punjabi Pakhtoon Ittehad (PPI) and others.
The then government even did not bother to hold a so-called inquiry into the massacre.
People served the allies of General (R) Musharraf a humiliating drubbing in February 18 elections. Although after the elections, democratic governments have been installed in the centre and in the Sindh province, there is no sign that it would hold inquiry into the mayhem despite that the Sindh chief minister has indicated to get the tragedy properly investigated.
The Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), which has been blamed for the tragedy, is sharing power with the PPP in the provincial government and is tipped to join, government in the centre. Then how it is possible that the tragedy would be investigated properly and freely.
The PPP despite its commitment in London Multi-Party Conference that they would not patronise or share power with the MQM, is ruling the province with MQM.  During the PML-N-hosted MCP, all the political parties including PPP had pledged that they would not include MQM in any government they would form in future.
However, in blatant violation of the commitment the PPP not only included MQM in Sindh government, but it is said that it considering giving representation to MQM in the federal cabinet.   
On Monday, May 12, 2008 the legal fraternity of the city like elsewhere in the country observed Black Day in protest against the failure of the government to arrest elements involved in the May 12 massacre.
They also paid rich tribute to people who sacrificed their lives for the restoration of the judiciary.
Lawyers, leaders of the Jamaat-i-Islami and representatives of non-governmental organisations took out a procession from the Karachi Bar Association office. The participants of the rally marched on different roads, including M.A. Jinnah Road, and arrived at the Karachi Press Club, where a demonstration was staged.
Surrounded by heavy police contingents, deployed since morning around the City Courts and Malir Courts, participants of the rally carried placards, banners and flags while raising anti-Musharraf and pro-judiciary slogans.
Addressing the demonstration, President of the Sindh High Court Bar Association Rasheed A. Razvi said nothing could weaken the lawyers’ resolve to continue their struggle till reinstatement of all the deposed judges.
He reminded those occupying the citadels of power that it was because of the lawyers’ sacrifices that democracy was restored in the country.
Describing May 12, 2007 as ‘the darkest day’ in Pakistan’s history, he recalled that Federal Information Minister Sherry Rehman’s car was also hit.
Mr Razvi said that the lawyers of Karachi had frustrated some quarters’ schemes to divide them, and they were united and committed to the restoration of the judiciary.
He also condemned the April 9 violence against the lawyers and urged the government to immediately arrest those involved in the May 12 and April 9 incidents and bring them to justice.
KBA President Mahmoodul Hasan said the November 3, 2007 steps of Pervez Musharraf were illegal and unconstitutional, and all the deposed judges had automatically been reinstated on December 15 when the constitution was restored, but they were barred from resuming their offices and now it was the responsibility of the new government to issue an executive order to enable the judges to attend their offices.
Jamaat-i-Islami leader Liaquat Baloch speaking at a lawyers’ gathering at the City Courts, strongly criticised the ruling coalition partners for announcing that they would accommodate the PCO judges once the judiciary was restored to its November 2 position, and said they would not accept the PCO judges at any cost.
“The two major ruling partners are trying to stop the lawyers’ ongoing struggle by holding meetings in Dubai and London, extending deadlines for the restoration of the November 2 judiciary, but the All Parties Democratic Movement would stand with the lawyers in their struggle for the reinstatement of all the deposed judges.
“The new government must disregard American pressure and restore the judiciary to its pre-PCO position and remove Prevez Musharraf as he had got himself elected illegally when the Supreme Court was likely to rule against his candidature, when he imposed a state of emergency in the country,” he added.
Mr Baloch paid homage to people who laid down their lives on May 12 and April 9 to uphold the rule of law and for the cause of restoration of an independent judiciary.
Referring to the MQM’s victory in February 18 elections in the urban areas of Sindh, he said that it was not a mandate of the people but a mandate of ‘fake stamps’.
During the ‘Black Day’ legal proceedings remained suspended at the City and the Malir district courts, as the lawyers stayed away from courts, while the under-trial prisoners were also not brought to the City Courts.
Various political parties also organised rallies and meetings to express solidarity with the victims of the May 12, 2007 carnage and observed the day as a “black day”.
The rallies and demonstrations unanimously called for the arrest of the perpetrators of the bloodshed.
Leaders of different political parties, speaking at a rally organised by Jamaat-i-Islami deplored that even after the passage of one year, no inquiry had so far been conducted to expose the culprits of May 12 mayhem. They called for the arrest of the elements responsible for the May 12 killings and demanded their immediate expulsion from the Sindh government.
They said nobody could ever forget the May 12 tragedy when over 50 innocent citizens were killed on the day of the arrival of the deposed chief justice of Pakistan, Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, by the goons of a political party at the behest of President Pervez Musharraf, who himself had termed it a manifestation of the people’s power during his address to participants of a rally on the Constitutional Avenue in Islamabad.
Liaqat Baloch, recalling an APC held in London, which was attended by all the opposition parties, said that all the political forces had termed MQM a terrorist organisation and expressed their determination that they would neither patronise the Muttahida nor include it in the government.
However, he deplored that despite gaining the required majority in the Sindh Assembly, the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) had agreed to share power with the MQM.
The JI leader said that by visiting the MQM headquarters ‘Nine Zero’, the PPP co-chairman, Asif Ali Zardari, had betrayed the victims of May 12.
Hakim Khan Mandokhel of the PkMAP said that we could not forget the martyrs of May 12 as democracy in the country had been restored because of their blood.
Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) organised a Quran Khawani for the victims of May 12 at the People’s Secretariat.
Talking to the newsmen, Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah termed May 12 as the blackest day in the history of the country.
The Labour Party Pakistan (LPP) also organised a rally outside the Karachi Press Club, where participants later lighted earthen lamps to express solidarity with the May 12 victims.
Speakers at the gathering urged the relevant authorities to expose and arrest the murderers and their patrons.
Nasir Mansoor said that though during the tenure of President Musharraf hundreds of people had been murdered in Balochistan, Wana, Bajaur, Swat, Hangu and other parts of the country, the carnage inflicted in Karachi on May 12, 2007 had no parallel.
Azra Perveen said that people were being killed in Balochistan and Wana by the armed forces who claimed that these people were terrorists but the military dictator and his allies had not come up with any reason under which they had murdered more than 50 people on May 12 in the commercial hub of the country.