A beacon of hope
The current party leadership, under Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, is following in the footsteps of Mohtarma Bhutto
PHOTO: AFP
Twelve years ago, Pakistan’s future changed in an instant. Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto, whose entire adult life was spent struggling against dictators and their stooges, had her life taken away in a shooting and bomb attack. As many as 16 others lost their lives and numerous were injured. Whatever happened in the next few days in the form of rioting, the political vacuum created and the overall upheaval have scarred many of us who have suffered in one way or the other. I was a student then, attending the Bar in England, and how sad the world had become for those who knew Mohtarma Bhutto, is very hard to describe.
She was a giant amongst pygmies of the Pakistani political system. A woman ahead of her times, she kept struggling against Ziaul Haq, the likes of Ghulam Ishaq Khan, Aslam Beg and Hameed Gul, who ensured she didn’t get the mandate by creating the likes of the Islami Jamhoori Ittehad (IJI) and the Combined Opposition Party, Justice Sajjad Ali Shah, Farooq Leghari and then Pervez Musharraf, al Qaeda and the Taliban. Notice the theme that all of them were powerful men of their times. All of them were all-powerful but had to eventually succumb to the peoples’ power that was led and inspired by Mohtarma Bhutto.
Mohtarma Bhutto achieved a lot in a male- dominated society, which despite being almost two decades into the 21st century, is becoming increasingly fragmented, politically and religiously polarised and remains unable to give women their due rights. Her assassination created a vacuum that’s been hard to fill. Since her assassination, we have seen a politics of convenience take precedence instead of firm principles. We have seen pressure groups get their way, be it extremists like the Taliban, the lawyers in the garb of the Lawyers’ Movement and subsequent judicial activism, electronic media, traders, businessmen, etc. The role of those who are behind the scenes and can’t be named has only increased so much that a selected leadership is running the country at the federal level.
Whilst the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) had held the reins of the federal government under the leadership of president Asif Ali Zardari and prime ministers Yousuf Raza Gilani and Raja Pervez Ashraf, the difference between the government and power was very visible. Perhaps, by assassinating Mohtarma Bhutto, the goal was not just to eliminate her, but to create a vacuum for the PPP and Pakistan that may take a generation or so to fill. The insurgency of the Taliban-led extremists, economic challenges and to top it off, an over-zealous judiciary and hyperbolic media ensured that the delivery of promises is restricted to stability for future governments.
The current party leadership, under Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, is following in the footsteps of Mohtarma Bhutto. It is trying to protect what the party delivered to the nation in the form of provincial autonomy, stability on the international front which was to create the building blocks of CPEC, as well as the socio-economic efforts for the reduction of poverty in the form of BISP, and eradication of debilitating diseases like polio which had been reduced significantly. Social protection as an idea is being put to effective use in Sindh with a landmark and seminal legislation having been recently passed by the Sindh Assembly.
Bilawal Bhutto Zardari is playing his role in Parliament by reminding what the selected government should not be doing. He is striving to uphold the economic, democratic and human rights of 220 million Pakistanis. He has offered support to the government despite its failings on important national issues, but what can one do if making U-turns is the overbearing principle of the Prime Minister. The protection of minorities and an empowered provincial government provided with a level playing field is all that he asks. Those denying him the due right and respect, and those who attempt to mock his accent of speaking Urdu, are forgetting that his grandfather and mother, whose life and work for Pakistan we celebrate today, were also subjected to unfair criticism. But those who did so are remnants of our dark past, while Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and Mohtarma Bhutto are chapters that are revered and tell us what we could have achieved had they not been physically taken away from us. Their idea and philosophy of a peaceful, progressive, prosperous and democratic Pakistan still lives on with Bilawal Bhutto Zardari being its torchbearer. Pakistan Zindabad! Pakistan Khappay!
Published in The Express Tribune, December 27th, 2019.
She was a giant amongst pygmies of the Pakistani political system. A woman ahead of her times, she kept struggling against Ziaul Haq, the likes of Ghulam Ishaq Khan, Aslam Beg and Hameed Gul, who ensured she didn’t get the mandate by creating the likes of the Islami Jamhoori Ittehad (IJI) and the Combined Opposition Party, Justice Sajjad Ali Shah, Farooq Leghari and then Pervez Musharraf, al Qaeda and the Taliban. Notice the theme that all of them were powerful men of their times. All of them were all-powerful but had to eventually succumb to the peoples’ power that was led and inspired by Mohtarma Bhutto.
Mohtarma Bhutto achieved a lot in a male- dominated society, which despite being almost two decades into the 21st century, is becoming increasingly fragmented, politically and religiously polarised and remains unable to give women their due rights. Her assassination created a vacuum that’s been hard to fill. Since her assassination, we have seen a politics of convenience take precedence instead of firm principles. We have seen pressure groups get their way, be it extremists like the Taliban, the lawyers in the garb of the Lawyers’ Movement and subsequent judicial activism, electronic media, traders, businessmen, etc. The role of those who are behind the scenes and can’t be named has only increased so much that a selected leadership is running the country at the federal level.
Whilst the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) had held the reins of the federal government under the leadership of president Asif Ali Zardari and prime ministers Yousuf Raza Gilani and Raja Pervez Ashraf, the difference between the government and power was very visible. Perhaps, by assassinating Mohtarma Bhutto, the goal was not just to eliminate her, but to create a vacuum for the PPP and Pakistan that may take a generation or so to fill. The insurgency of the Taliban-led extremists, economic challenges and to top it off, an over-zealous judiciary and hyperbolic media ensured that the delivery of promises is restricted to stability for future governments.
The current party leadership, under Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, is following in the footsteps of Mohtarma Bhutto. It is trying to protect what the party delivered to the nation in the form of provincial autonomy, stability on the international front which was to create the building blocks of CPEC, as well as the socio-economic efforts for the reduction of poverty in the form of BISP, and eradication of debilitating diseases like polio which had been reduced significantly. Social protection as an idea is being put to effective use in Sindh with a landmark and seminal legislation having been recently passed by the Sindh Assembly.
Bilawal Bhutto Zardari is playing his role in Parliament by reminding what the selected government should not be doing. He is striving to uphold the economic, democratic and human rights of 220 million Pakistanis. He has offered support to the government despite its failings on important national issues, but what can one do if making U-turns is the overbearing principle of the Prime Minister. The protection of minorities and an empowered provincial government provided with a level playing field is all that he asks. Those denying him the due right and respect, and those who attempt to mock his accent of speaking Urdu, are forgetting that his grandfather and mother, whose life and work for Pakistan we celebrate today, were also subjected to unfair criticism. But those who did so are remnants of our dark past, while Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and Mohtarma Bhutto are chapters that are revered and tell us what we could have achieved had they not been physically taken away from us. Their idea and philosophy of a peaceful, progressive, prosperous and democratic Pakistan still lives on with Bilawal Bhutto Zardari being its torchbearer. Pakistan Zindabad! Pakistan Khappay!
Published in The Express Tribune, December 27th, 2019.