National Awami Party (Wali) - Hyderabad Tribunal

Hyderabad Tribunal

In the face of an increasingly strong national campaign led by the NAP against the government, Bhutto banned NAP on February 8, 1975 after the murder of his close colleague Hayat Khan Sherpao, throwing thousands of its workers and much of its leadership, including party President Khan Abdul Wali Khan, in jail for alleged anti-state activities.

Invoking the 1st amendment of the 1973 constituiton the government charged Wali Khan and his colleagues under the Hyderabad Conspiracy Case in 1976, although they were acquitted of the charge of the murder of PPP stalwart Hayat Khan Sherpao, the decision to ban the NAP was upheld by the courts. In addition to Khan Abdul Wali Khan, the case also implicated two governors, two chief ministers, scores of national and provincial parliamentarians, Khan Amirzadah Khan, Syed Kaswar Gardezi, Habib Jalib (Urdu revolutionary poet) and Mir Gul Khan Nasir (Balochi Revolutionary Poet/Leader) and even some of Bhutto’s former colleagues, many of whom were later re-elected and became federal or provincial ministers.