KARACHI: My former journalistic colleague Farahnaz Ispahani in her article on these pages “Both capacity and will” (December 3) has tried to answer some of the questions that I had raised in my article, titled “Can Bilawal revive the old PPP?” (December 1).
I found her observations interesting and wanted to, however, respond by saying that I stand by my opinion. My point was that if Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari is really ready for active politics, he will have to face among the world’s most vocal media, something which his grandfather could not have tolerated — but which his mother did — and that all this will be a real test for him
Farahnaz, a PPP leader and one of the victims of the dual nationality clause, believes that he is not only ready but quite active as well with able guidance by none other than his father, Co-Chairman of the PPP and President of Pakistan, Asif Ali Zardari.
I may be totally wrong but some children of Pakistani politicians, who are in active politics, have not really impressed so far with their potential. These include Hamza Shahbaz, Monis Elahi and the two sons of former premier Yousaf Raza Gilani. Can Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari be different from them? One has to wait to find out.
There is potential in Mariam Nawaz and Fatima Bhutto, though the latter decided to keep herself away from politics (rejecting a report earlier this week that had said that she would stand in the 2013 general election).
In my article, I had highlighted the difficulties Bilawal was likely to face but I deliberately avoided asking some relevant questions which might have been seen as aggressive — because he is young and has a long way to go in politics. Two years ago, I had an accidental meeting with Bakhtawar Bhutto at Bilawal House, thanks to Faryal Talpur and found her very enthusiastic. She was surrounded by a group of PPP women leaders and was busy organising relief work for flood victims. I asked her why she is not taking media along or at least speaking to them and her response was: “I want to but they advise against it.”
I never had a chance to speak to Bilawal, who is more accessible to the foreign media than the Pakistani media. If he is really interested in leading the party he must be well prepared for dealing with the Pakistani media as well.
I am anxiously waiting for his public address and that, too, in Urdu, on the eve of the death anniversary of former premier Benazir Bhutto. It has been reported that the PPP Co-Chairman, President Zardari, may formally hand over chairmanship to Bilawal on Ms Bhutto’s fifth death anniversary and this may be the beginning of a long innings for the young man.
Farahnaz believes that the politics of principles is still alive. Yes, it is, but I am sorry to say that it is not in the PPP anymore. The appointment of Mian Manzoor Wattoo as president of the party in Punjab is proof of this since several long-standing senior party leaders were ignored when this decision was made. Given Mr Wattoo’s ability to attract votes, the move may be a good one strategically but it doesn’t seem to be based on any principle.
Thus, my concern is which PPP will Bilawal lead? The PPP of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, the PPP of Benazir Bhutto or the PPP of the last four years? Senior analyst and columnist for this paper Rasul Bukhsh Rais has, in his weekly column, said pretty much the same thing as well.
I wish President Zardari, (with whom I have had a lot more meetings in jail compared to the two I had in the presidency), had not listened to his friend Agha Siraj Durrani when he withdrew the name of veteran Makhdoom Amin Fahim as the candidate for prime minister after making an announcement to that effect.
I agree with Farahnaz that Pakistani democracy is not only young but is not even fully democratised. However, the PPP has been around for almost 45 years now, during which time it has lost two of its charismatic leaders and thousands of its members faced military courts, were hanged, flogged and put in prison for years. It is precisely because of this history that the party can do much based on principle.
Mazhar Abbas
Published in The Express Tribune, December 6th, 2012.
