PEKING: The body of Chairman Mao Tsetung lay in state tonight [Sept 12] and extraordinary scenes of grief were witnessed. A nationally televised film contained numerous emotive shots of weeping mourners filing by Mao’s body as he lay in state in Peking’s Great Hall of the People. The 20-minute film moved countless millions to tears. The film showed some mourners weeping uncontrollably and others who could not summon the strength to turn their eyes to the bier where Mao rested, partially covered with the Chinese Communist Party flag. His widow, Chiang Ching, stood sadly a few yards … away, a scarf around her head. During the weekend an estimated 100,000 officials and selected “workers, peasants and soldiers”, shuffled past the body of the Communist revolutionary… . — News agencies
[Meanwhile, as reported from Karachi,] Prime Minister Z.A. Bhutto has set a target of one million foreign tourists, to be achieved by 1980, Federal Minister of State for Tourism, Mr Saeedur Rashid Abbasi said … . Talking to [a news agency] before his departure for Paris, he was confident that the target would be achieved. In this regard he said that his Ministry had launched a five-year comprehensive plan … to provide facilities… .
Published in Dawn, September 13th, 2026
