Clearly, the murder of Benazir Bhutto in 2007 was a huge setback for the party and for democracy in general. People had hopes that Benazir would have learnt from her past mistakes and were encouraged that her nemesis and political rival, Nawaz Sharif, had pledged to a pact to abandon the policy of undercutting each other’s legal right to govern and prevent the ambitious generals from leveraging their power to oust a legitimate government. Pakistan was about to come out from the cycle of coups and corrupt governments when Benazir was murdered. Benazir’s loss to the PPP and the country was monumental. She was Pakistan’s most charismatic and outstanding leader in many ways, and much hope was pinned on her despite a long spell of failures in the past. Her leadership and role in politics was a source of strength and inspiration for Pakistani women and the underprivileged. Her courageous stand against the TTP and other militant groups that ultimately cost her life was a rarity that stood in sharp contrast to the weak and ambiguous position taken by most other male politicians. But Benazir’s major weakness was that she was too soft on corruption and did not realise how damaging it was for her, her family and party’s reputation. I had the good fortune of working under her during her first term in office when I was secretary of defence production. I had also known her from before and we enjoyed a certain level of mutual respect. Her assassination and outpouring of grief facilitated the return of the PPP to power but Asif Ali Zardari was, at that time, ill-prepared and poorly qualified to be prime minister. Having spent years in jail on corruption charges that due to legal lacunas were never proved, nonetheless, soiled his reputation and that of his party. The PPP’s foremost failing has been its moral bankruptcy that has lowered its image in the eyes of the public, including its most ardent followers. What the party leadership fails to grasp is that character is a functional requirement of a society and is the moral compass that acts as an anchor.
Moreover, the party cannot live on its past. Bilawal Bhutto Zardari’s speech reinforced the impression that the party is still living more in the past instead of looking into the future. The world has changed and ‘Bhuttoism’ needs to be redefined. What was relevant in the 1970s and the 1980s is obsolete today. The new slogan should have been about education, technology, industrialisation, agricultural revolution, health and efficient management of mega cities, and above all, the rule of law. While the nation does acknowledge the great sacrifices made by Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and Benazir and their contribution in standing up to dictators, they also rightly assess their weaknesses. Excuses put forward by the former PPP government that it was so distracted by NAB cases, judicial activism and pressures from the military that it could not devote sufficient time for governance is not very convincing. These cases were initiated against PPP leaders because there were allegations of corruption against them and the law had to take its course. In fact, President Zardari, by invoking the immunity clause, largely succeeded in preventing corruption cases from being filed against him, but his reputation suffered.
The PPP’s relations with the military have always been uneasy for some of the reasons that I have mentioned earlier. This has been harmful to the party and has not served the military well either. Zardari followed a policy of appeasement towards the establishment by conceding greater space to them in areas of foreign, defence and security policies. These were poor tactics with long-term ill-effects.
The positive side is that the PPP is giving solid and consistent support to Operation Zarb-e-Azb. The PPP, the ANP and the MQM are the only three political parties that are standing behind the armed forces in the existential struggle against militant forces. For this support, all the three parties have been specifically targeted by the TTP and had to pay a huge price in the loss of their leaders and workers. Benazir lost her life standing up to the TTP. Many top leaders and workers of the ANP and the MQM have been victims of terrorists, yet they remain undeterred.
The best way for the PPP to regain the confidence of the people and the armed forces is by bringing about a radical change in the quality of governance in Sindh and acting as an effective opposition party in parliament. This would require a major shake-up and departure from the feudal and archaic leadership to a youthful, energetic and dynamic one. It is not as if there is no talent within the party, but it is essentially a question of change of mindset and trajectory, from a dynastic to a merit-based system. Will Zardari sahib allow this change or will Bilawal be politically assertive enough to break his hold? Frankly, if Bilawal and the future leadership fail to reinvent the PPP and do not bring about a radical change of mindset and values, they will continue on the downslide.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 22nd, 2014.
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COMMENTS (22)
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"from a dynastic to a merit-based system" and how do we expect this change in PPP to come from Bilawal who is insisting "Mein Bhutto hoon" obviously playing dynastic card himself
second attempt at a comment ; That was a fair but a very guarded opinion piece.
Truth be known I thought @naeemkhan was a far better read accurate honest...re author many inconsistencies author making assumptions
The 18th October jalsa was for revival of PPP. Honestly, when I saw Sanam Bhutto with Bilawal, and Zardari nowhere in sight, it sent shivers down my spine and I blurted out "No, not another shaheed". But thank God, there was a last minute change of plans!
Seeing Bilawal and PPP back in control or losers like Shareefs staying in power will/is enough impetus for us over seas Pakistanis to say Good bye to that God forsaken country once for all. There is zero chance of this country to expect any change with the forces of status quo yet the support for the parties of status quo is non non existing.
I am totally amazed at the support of these forces (Noon, PPP, MQM) among people. Oh well not all nations meant to posses a respectful existence, I guess!
@Mirza: i am sorry sir, nobody in their right mind is scared of bilawal. he is what he is, a puppet in the hands of the corrupt. the words he utters are not his, the actions he takes are not his. Please open your eyes. his youthefullness sings songs of the corruption that follows him. he is a nobody. and hopefully this is how he will always be remembered. amen.
PPP has an image of Pakistan Plunder Party. The culture of financial corruption is so intense & deep rooted in PPP that it can never come out of it. Its a Party which should not be considered for vote by general public.
The Seventh Wonder of the World: A Man with Two Races and Sirnames
PPP to in needs to win confidence of the citizens of Pakistan . Really could not understand why the the Author thinks the PPP needs to win the confidence of the Army .
The Editor,
Harryda is a town in Sweden in the outskirts of Gothenburg.
Munir Varraich
To put it a bit less mildly, Bilawal Zardari (he is no Bhutto) is likely to preside over the demise of PPP just as the Indian Crown Prince Rahul Gandhi is currently doing in respect of the Congress Party of Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi.
It appears the writer of this column has also posted this comment.
Very well written sir. But you talk of a scenario where a political parties leadership is sincere and loyal to the country but just aren't smart enough to develop and implement the right policies.
The actual problem not just with PPP or most of the politicians is that no one is sincere, all they care is the short term power and money they try to make. None of these guys PPP including are loyal or sincere to the country hence we get nothing out of them.
They do not want to educate the mass rural population cause they fear that once they have some thinking power they will not vote for them. And this will continue, the only solution is to get rid of these people.
I would second the writer. In particular, ppp has to change its CM in Sindh and make work the projects out in such a way that they superceed Shahbaz govt. in punjab in development spectrum.
I was of the view that Bilawal should have announced mega projects in Karachi like Metro Train and other Infrastructure projects. Instead he asked Federal govt. for finances. After 18th ammendment provinces are getting substaintial funds. If punjab govt can undertake metro bus and train projects why not Sindh govt?
This approach of young leadership of PPP suggests that there would little or no change in PPP's style of governance. (So Sad)
.............
@Mirza: You still call PPP a progressive,liberal party?Do you know who played god one earth and had declared Ahmedis as non-muslims,dont you feel like a fool calling them liberal?
An apt analysis. Change is the only constant factor rest are variables . Mr Zardari should come out of the fobia of Mr Benazir and Master Bilawal should behave manly , and if he wants to catch on Sindh , he must realize the demography has changed. Rural Sindh and Waderah mindset can't rule the urban sindh wit the mindset of 70s and 80s even 90s is obsolete, rightly remarked by writer . But changing mindset is an uphill task.
A realistic Op Ed by the writer. It is obvious that TTP who supported and endorsed PTI and PML-N are crippled thanks to the army. Now in the next elections they cannot provide walkover to these two rightwing parties. Additionally the PPP and ANP alliance cannot do any worse and only going to increase their presence in NA. Pakistan is not a homogenous country and each future election would see a hung parliament and various parties majority in their areas and ethnicity. The only way would be to have a coalition govt like the previous govt that lasted full term despite SC and CJ.
A well written article, I have only two objections:
"The PPP has the distinction of spearheading democracy and standing up against military rule, whereas all other political parties at one time or the other were voluntarily co-opted by the military and played second fiddle to it." ZAB was a minister in the Ayub government so how fail to see how that statement is true.
"The positive side is that the PPP is giving solid and consistent support to Operation Zarb-e-Azb. The PPP, the ANP and the MQM are the only three political parties that are standing behind the armed forces in the existential struggle against militant forces." After the start of ZeA, a resolution in favour of the operation was passed in the parliament and it was approved by ALL parties except for JI.
"from a dynastic to a merit-based system". I will not hold my breath for this change to happen in PPP. Most of it's leadership is based on feudals and it will be impossible for the young Bilawal to do anything different abut it. The mere fact is that it is a dynastic party, although granted that BB had to earn her place in Pakistan's turbulent political system but Bilawal is no match to BB's stature or her intelligence. I should know I worked with BB as a president PPP at USA level and lobbied the Congress on her behalf against that dictator Zia. She was magical in her skills of persuasion, mending fences and was more accommodating than her critics ever given her the credit. Zardari has muddied the waters to such an extent that it will be almost impossible for PPP to regain that stature when ZA Bhutto or even BB was alive, now the party PPP is synonymous with corruption and mis-management and rightly so. Bilawal was given this party chairmanship by mere accident and by those sycophants around Zardari. Bilawal has not worked an honest day of work in his whole life and as the late Governor Richards of Texas once said about President Bush during an election that poor Bush was born with a silver foot in his mouth, it could be said the same about Bilawal. I for one will never support any dynastic political outfits because times has changed and there is this change in the young generation of Pakistan for the betterment of Pakistan. what ever people say or think about IK, one thing is very clear that he did awaken the nation and particularly the young generation to look forward for a change. Dynastic parties like PPP in the future will have limited share of the pie in the Pakistani politics, the party is doomed unless some one else takes over and sidelined the dynastic heiressy.
A well written and balanced piece by the Author. Nothing is going to change in PPP as long as Faryal Talpur and Asif Zardari are at the helm of affairs and hearing bilawals speech just concreted the impression that he is not his own man, rather a mouth piece for his handlers .Foul language, hysterical screaming and acting like a wannabe ZAB are hallmarks of his speeches. It doesn’t seems PPP has learnt any lesson at all and is still on the same path .For example, recently, a sitting MPA of PPP, Perveen Junejo had alleged that her husband Aziz Junejo had got her signature on a typed resignation paper at gunpoint in the presence of Faryal Talpur.Bilawal formed a committee to probe the matter but that was all he did and was allowed to do since he’s helpless in front of the clout enjoyed by Faryal Talpur .When he lacks authority even being a Chairman, isn’t this a bit naïve to think he’s going to revive PPP, that too in the presence of the old tried and tested PPP leadership?
I agree with the writer that Bilawal should take control of his party and prove to all that he is his own man. He has better qualities and speaks better Urdu and Sindhi than his grandfather and mother at his age. He has to make the party of BB and bring back all the lifetime old faithful back. This is the time to discard the old lifetime leaders of the rightwing parties and make PPP a progressive party that it was supposed to be. It is great to see the party not allied with Choudhry Brothers anymore. They and other lota fit in PTI or other rightwing parties under lifetime leaders. It is ironic that when SMQ and Choudhry are with PPP, they are called all kinds of names. When they behave like lota they are all squeaky clean with PTI and IK. The fact that so many people are spitting against Bilawal is they are afraid of his youthfulness and similarity to ZAB and BB. If he is so useless he would be ignored and there would not be much reaction.