Remembering Shaheed Benazir Bhutto

It has been nine years since we lost Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto to an assassin’s bullet. As she had lived an extraordinary life, it was but natural that her end too would be no less dramatic. And so it was. Her last moments in this mortal world remain frozen in our memories. She has continued to inspire people all over the world, in particular, the women. Despite the monumental progress made by women in the most advanced democracies, the ceiling at the top of the political spectrum barring entry for women to the highest office of the land remain intact and entrenched as recently witnessed in the United States.

Yet, a Muslim woman had shattered this ceiling in 1988 at the tender age of 35 in a society where a coalition of conservative clerics and feudal lords thriving on lack of education, ignorance and deeply rooted social mores, had relegated women to complete subordination. However, this remarkable achievement neither came accidentally nor was it free of cost. It had been earned by the people of this country. This was the finest hour in our history when the people led by Benazir Bhutto, after struggle for a decade against the most brutal and reactionary despot, redeemed the place of honour in the community of nations.

For those who were not part of this extraordinary period of our country’s journey, it is very difficult to appreciate, absorb and feel the pain and agony which the people had to endure during the decade of darkness. Yet this tale needs to be told and retold. Public hangings and floggings were part of the penal system. Judiciary had been completely subordinated and complicit judges connived to eliminate the democratically elected leader through a tainted trial. Thousands of the supporters of Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto were imprisoned without any trial. Many were subjected to flogging. Some were even executed.

Such was the time when a young Oxford graduate in her 20s, with the ambitions for a diplomatic career at the United Nations was confronted with these ground realties. All her dreams and ambitions were shattered overnight. Life had taken a complete summersault and there was nothing but darkness, despondency and gloom. She was living a nightmare which is hard to imagine let alone be felt by anyone who was not actually part of it then. The easiest and safest option would have been to quietly accept the fait accompli and fade away into oblivion and return to a comfortable life abroad. The alternative was too frightening even to imagine. She was advised by many of her friends and well-wishers to accept the hand of destiny and move on otherwise she would be killed, imprisoned and incarcerated. Even the best of the scenarios for Benazir Bhutto carried no contingency of any personal comfort. For any ordinary mortal the choice would have been obvious. Human instinct for survival and comfort presented no alternative but to surrender to the fate.

Yet, this is precisely what Benazir Bhutto refused to do. For her the destiny lay not in running away from the dangerous path but in confronting the forces of darkness, even when it posed serious and immediate dangers to her own life. Such are the moments which test the human mettle. She proved herself equal to the challenge and rose to the occasion. She made this decision consciously knowing the immediate as well as long-term consequences for her personal life. This decision was to change her life as well as that of her country. She faced all conceivable obstacles that human perversity could create in her path. This included long and solitary imprisonments for her as well as her supporters. Encouraged and inspired by her courage and tenacity, thousands of women, from all sectors and communities including those who would rarely step of out their homes for more than few hours joined her and endured imprisonments and police batons. This was the true mark of a leader. She led the people by her own example of suffering monumental hardships. Despite all the tricks and obstacles, thrown in her way by the most wily, ruthless and heartless dictator, she travelled to virtually every corner of the country and met the ordinary people never visited by a woman leader before. She witnessed and shared the pain and suffering of these poor and underprivileged particularly, the women. This created an inseparable bond between her and these people. The struggle for democracy by the people of Pakistan between 1977 to 1988 is now part of history. While it was the darkest decade of our country’s short existence yet this was also the time when thousands of brave and selfless Pakistanis sacrificed their lives, liberty and comfort so that the forces of darkness marauding this country do not go unchallenged. In Benazir Bhutto, they had a figure to look to for inspiration and example.

Eventually the dawn followed, as it always must. In 1988, the people of Pakistan elected the first Muslim woman to the highest elected office. History was made and people of Pakistan were full of euphoria and optimism for a better future. Yet the remnants of the forces of darkness refused to surrender to the new order and continued with their conspiracies. Soon they succeeded and the democratic government was dismissed. No doubt some of those who were part of the newly elected government also made mistakes. But this was natural as democracies flourish only when the democratic process is allowed to evolve. All democracies must undergo the process of trial and error to mature. The establishment continued to subvert the democratic process and the game of musical chairs marked the 1990s. Eventually yet another martial law was imposed in the year 1999 and yet another dictator overshadowed the political landscape.

During this period Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto had transitioned from a fiery opposition leader of 1980s to a statesperson and a world leader mastered in the art of politics. She had even drawn her archrival Mian Nawaz Sharif to a charter for democracy. Meanwhile the plague of terrorism had permeated the body politic of Pakistan and world at large. She was the only leader who took an unflinching stand against the sponsors and perpetrators of terrorism. In October 2007, she returned to Pakistan to a historic and unprecedented welcome. Shortly thereafter she was brutally assassinated.

It is difficult to state with certainty as to what sort of leader she would have been after 2008 elections. She certainly had personal traits which she had carried with all her life. Boundless courage and energy, empathy with the ordinary people and understanding for their pain and suffering, a burning desire to see women of Pakistan take their rightful places in all walks of life were some of the features which remained with her till the last. Experience had infused the element of prudence and wisdom. What more she would have brought to the art of governance will always remain a mystery as fate took away that opportunity from her.

Today the poor, the underclass and the underprivileged are once clamouring for their rights and share. The liberal ideals which she assiduously preached and espoused are being drowned out. Like her father, Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto always had her hand on the pulse of the people. She genuinely felt their pains and agony. Had she lived, this doubtlessly would have been her priority. She had left a monumental legacy. Those who have inherited their mantle now owe a duty to revive and reinvigorate the liberal ideals for which she had lived and eventually died.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 28^th, 2016.

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