ISLAMABAD   -  The Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) was yesterday assigned the sword sym­bol for general elections. PPP General Secretary Syed Nayyar Hussain Bukhari appeared before the Elec­tion Commission of Paki­stan (ECP) and requested for the symbol, which the ECP granted to the PPP - led by Bilawal Bhutto Zardari. Bukhari later said that it was an honourable achievement for Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari to reclaim the elec­tion symbol associated with Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s party. The sword symbol, along with the plough and scales, was removed from the list of election symbols during the time of Ziaul Haq after the 1977 polls. PPP founder Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was also assigned the sword symbol for elections in the 1970s. The PPP has been contest­ing polls with arrow as the election symbol since then. However, the PPP Parlia­mentarians - a branch of the party led by Asif Ali Zardari now has ‘arrow’ as the elec­tion symbol and the par­ent party has reclaimed the original sword symbol