LARKANA: Pakistan Peoples Party Workers paid tribute to national heroes and martyrs on Defence Day, saying their sacrifices constitute a proud chapter of the nation’s history.
In a message, PPPW President Dr. Safdar Ali Abbasi, Naheed Khan and other leaders highlighted the courage of MM Alam, Major Raja Aziz Bhatti Shaheed and countless others who laid down their lives for Pakistan.
The leaders said the sacrifices of martyrs form the foundation of national consciousness, unity and patriotism.
Prayers were offered for the martyrs and their families. The leaders said martyrs remain the nation’s eternal honour.
The leaders stressed that the defence of Pakistan is not limited to geographical borders, arguing that safeguarding constitutional supremacy, democracy and the rule of law is equally essential.
They reaffirmed a commitment to building a strong, democratic and just Pakistan, and to resolving political differences through dialogue.
The framing extends Defence Day observance beyond its conventional military register — a position the party has articulated consistently, linking national security to democratic continuity and institutional balance.
The two names cited carry specific weight in Pakistan’s Defence Day iconography.
Squadron Leader Muhammad Mahmood Alam, universally known as MM Alam, remains the most celebrated figure of the Pakistan Air Force’s role in the 1965 conflict, credited with a record of aerial engagements that has been recounted in national commemoration for six decades.
Major Raja Aziz Bhatti Shaheed was awarded the Nishan-e-Haider, Pakistan’s highest military honour, for his conduct in the Lahore sector during the same conflict. His name appears in Defence Day observances across the political spectrum.
Defence Day is marked annually on 6 September, commemorating the events of 1965. The occasion is observed through ceremonies at military installations, wreath-laying at martyrs’ monuments, and statements from political parties, civil institutions and community organisations across the country.
Political party observances have grown into a fixture of the day, with parties using the occasion to articulate their own conception of national security — a practice that has broadened the commemorative vocabulary over time from purely martial framing to include economic security, institutional stability and democratic governance.
The PPPW leaders’ call for resolving political differences through dialogue came as part of the same message.
The linkage between commemorating military sacrifice and advocating political accommodation reflects an argument the party has made in successive Defence Day statements: that national cohesion is itself a security asset, and that unresolved political confrontation carries costs for the state’s capacity to respond to external pressures.
The tribute was issued from Larkana, the party’s historic political base in upper Sindh and the constituency most closely associated with its founding leadership. Party workers gathered to offer prayers for the martyrs and their families as part of the observance.
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