‘Today’s war is not between Sindhis, Punjabis or Hindus and Muslims, it is the poor against the rich’
The Bhutto memorabilia being sold now includes stickers and posters of Mir Murtaza’s family.
GARHI KHUDA BUX:
It was a very different kind of event at Garhi Khuda Bux on April 4. Gone was the state machinery of the veritable army of Special Branch personnel and protocol officers and the attendees brought to the mausoleum by their local MPAs and MNAs.
Like the day before, the supporters at Garhi Khuda Bux on Wednesday also have Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) flags and chant Jiye Bhutto. Their chants were followed by several cursing the president and a call for ‘Naara-e-Murtaza’ went out. Their flag was in the familiar red, green and black but it featured a printed sword, and the name Shaheed Bhutto. They have posters of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, but instead of Benazir and her children, the other images were of Mir Murtaza and his son Zulfikar Jr.
This was the second death anniversary event for Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, organised by the Pakistan Peoples Party-Shaheed Bhutto (PPP-SB), founded by Mir Murtaza Bhutto and now headed by his widow, Ghinwa.
“Dum Dum Bhutto,” was the cheer. Ghinwa took the mic. When she smiled, she looked like the young, glowing woman in the images of her after she married Mir Murtaza.
“There is anger in you,” she said. “We are angry because in the past 33 years and the betrayal of the elite and tyrannical leaders that took away our great leader, but the rulers since then have also betrayed us.” She said that the PPP was now in the hands of the ‘Zardari mafia’. “The real heir is junior Bhutto,” one speaker said, referring to Zulfikar Jr.
The PPP flag has been hung on the mausoleum, and the Bhutto memorabilia being sold now included stickers and posters of Mir Murtaza’s family. Inside the mausoleum, all images of President Zardari and a few of Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari were ripped up and scribbled over.
“Benazir’s children are not Bhutto’s heirs, Murtaza’s children are. They are Zardari’s children,” said Taufeeq, a PPP-SB supporter from Larkana. “Bhutto’s heirs can only be Bhuttos.”
A crowd quickly amassed. “We will not even let Zardari enter this place when the government’s term is over. His picture cannot be here, he killed Mir Murtaza and Benazir,” another chimes in.
Also at the event was Sindh National Front vice-chairperson Ameer Bux Bhutto. Ameer Bux accused the PPP of using the Bhutto name and of the government of destroying institutions and being corrupt.
He said that the men Benazir had pointed to being responsible if she was assassinated were now part of the government.
Ghinwa dubbed Watan Cards and Benazir Income Support Programme a last resort to give people money because the government did not make any policies for the poor. She addressed the women, and told them the programme was flawed because it paid Rs800 instead of Rs1,000 and the remainder was paid back. She also hit out at Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani for not respecting the Supreme Court and his refusal to write to Switzerland to reopen cases against the president. “I am very happy that my friends from Railway Colony are here. You have made your struggle an example for the country. She hails the colony’s residents for not leaving the area when the police came to remove them. She asks them to seize other land for their neighbours and asks for a 100-year lease for the land.
“Today’s war is not between Sindhis and Punjabis or Hindus and Muslims, it is the poor against the rich,” said Ghinwa before leaving the crowd to return to the mausoleum that houses the Bhuttos they honour so much.
Resolutions and more: PTI members join PPP-SB
It was also announced at the event that several people from Bahawal and Sujawal had joined the PPP-SB after leaving the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf. Several resolutions were presented - against US tyranny, the government’s corruption and recent move to increase petroleum product prices.
One focuses on Karachi and calls for implementation of the Supreme Court order of 2011 and for an end to the one-sided operation in Lyari. Another asks for opening talks with Baloch leaders and stopping the spate of extrajudicial killings.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 5th, 2012.
It was a very different kind of event at Garhi Khuda Bux on April 4. Gone was the state machinery of the veritable army of Special Branch personnel and protocol officers and the attendees brought to the mausoleum by their local MPAs and MNAs.
Like the day before, the supporters at Garhi Khuda Bux on Wednesday also have Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) flags and chant Jiye Bhutto. Their chants were followed by several cursing the president and a call for ‘Naara-e-Murtaza’ went out. Their flag was in the familiar red, green and black but it featured a printed sword, and the name Shaheed Bhutto. They have posters of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, but instead of Benazir and her children, the other images were of Mir Murtaza and his son Zulfikar Jr.
This was the second death anniversary event for Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, organised by the Pakistan Peoples Party-Shaheed Bhutto (PPP-SB), founded by Mir Murtaza Bhutto and now headed by his widow, Ghinwa.
“Dum Dum Bhutto,” was the cheer. Ghinwa took the mic. When she smiled, she looked like the young, glowing woman in the images of her after she married Mir Murtaza.
“There is anger in you,” she said. “We are angry because in the past 33 years and the betrayal of the elite and tyrannical leaders that took away our great leader, but the rulers since then have also betrayed us.” She said that the PPP was now in the hands of the ‘Zardari mafia’. “The real heir is junior Bhutto,” one speaker said, referring to Zulfikar Jr.
The PPP flag has been hung on the mausoleum, and the Bhutto memorabilia being sold now included stickers and posters of Mir Murtaza’s family. Inside the mausoleum, all images of President Zardari and a few of Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari were ripped up and scribbled over.
“Benazir’s children are not Bhutto’s heirs, Murtaza’s children are. They are Zardari’s children,” said Taufeeq, a PPP-SB supporter from Larkana. “Bhutto’s heirs can only be Bhuttos.”
A crowd quickly amassed. “We will not even let Zardari enter this place when the government’s term is over. His picture cannot be here, he killed Mir Murtaza and Benazir,” another chimes in.
Also at the event was Sindh National Front vice-chairperson Ameer Bux Bhutto. Ameer Bux accused the PPP of using the Bhutto name and of the government of destroying institutions and being corrupt.
He said that the men Benazir had pointed to being responsible if she was assassinated were now part of the government.
Ghinwa dubbed Watan Cards and Benazir Income Support Programme a last resort to give people money because the government did not make any policies for the poor. She addressed the women, and told them the programme was flawed because it paid Rs800 instead of Rs1,000 and the remainder was paid back. She also hit out at Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani for not respecting the Supreme Court and his refusal to write to Switzerland to reopen cases against the president. “I am very happy that my friends from Railway Colony are here. You have made your struggle an example for the country. She hails the colony’s residents for not leaving the area when the police came to remove them. She asks them to seize other land for their neighbours and asks for a 100-year lease for the land.
“Today’s war is not between Sindhis and Punjabis or Hindus and Muslims, it is the poor against the rich,” said Ghinwa before leaving the crowd to return to the mausoleum that houses the Bhuttos they honour so much.
Resolutions and more: PTI members join PPP-SB
It was also announced at the event that several people from Bahawal and Sujawal had joined the PPP-SB after leaving the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf. Several resolutions were presented - against US tyranny, the government’s corruption and recent move to increase petroleum product prices.
One focuses on Karachi and calls for implementation of the Supreme Court order of 2011 and for an end to the one-sided operation in Lyari. Another asks for opening talks with Baloch leaders and stopping the spate of extrajudicial killings.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 5th, 2012.