Past glory?: ‘Disgruntled workers not good omen for PPP’

Ghulam Qadir Bhutto says current leadership should mend its ways.

SUKKUR:

Loyal party workers are ready to sacrifice themselves to strengthen their party, but those talking about sacrifices these days have not given anything to the party or the country, believes Ghulam Qadir Bhutto, a founder member of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP).

The head of the Bhutto clan’s supreme council and also a former parliamentarian, Ghulam spoke his heart out during an interview with The Express Tribune about the past and the present situation of his party and the country.

About the current scenario, the Bhutto elder claimed that the party’s workers are feeling a sense of deprivation as they are constantly being ignored. “Many of the diehard workers and leaders are staying away from the party affairs, as they know there is no space for them,” he said.

He said that the history of the PPP is full of sacrifices. The party founder, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, sacrificed his life for the country and then his daughter Benazir Bhutto, who knew very well that she was in danger, still came to Pakistan and was martyred, he said. “Others are just enjoying the fruit of the Bhutto family’s sacrifices,” he added.

Recalling the events of 1967, Ghulam said that then foreign minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto had developed serious differences with Field Marshal Ayub Khan and announced the formation of PPP after his return from Tashkent, establishing an office in the Faletti’s Hotel, Lahore.

“[At that time], I was a Basic Democracy member, and announced joining the PPP along with my father and brother and other clansmen,” he said.

In 1969, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, accompanied by Ghulam Mustafa Khar, late Ghulam Mustafa Jatoi and Sardar Pir Bux Bhutto, inaugurated the party’s first office set up in the Indus Hotel, Sukkur. “Bhutto’s charismatic personality attracted a large number of people towards the PPP,” he said.

The senior Bhutto said that the PPP founder knew very well that parties need loyal workers and thus valued every activist. “Zulfikar Ali Bhutto used to say that the fountainhead of power lies with the people, and the parties are nothing without loyal workers,” he said. “I just cannot tell you, how he used to love his workers.”

Zulfikar Ali Bhutto sincerely wanted to implement his party’s manifesto of “Roti, Kapra and Makaan” and his vision was of a strong and self-sufficient Pakistan, Ghulam recalled.

In 1977, after General Ziaul Haq toppled the Bhutto government, a crackdown was launched against the PPP leaders and hundreds of them were sent to jail. “I was convicted and imprisoned four times for one year each, besides the 15 lashes every time”, the senior Bhutto said. “The PPP leaders talk about sacrifices for the party, but they have served jails for only a month or so.”

“I can’t believe this [the claims of sacrifices by current party leaders]. If you are loyal to your party, you have to sacrifice for it,” the Bhutto elder said. “People like me, who went to jail many times, never talk about their sacrifices for the party; rather they are thankful to the party for introducing them to politics.”

About the execution of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto in April 1979, Ghulam, citing an army officer, claimed that had some party leaders taken to the streets, the PPP chairman would have been saved. “Founder members and leaders like Mumtaz Ali Bhutto, Ghulam Mustafa Jatoi, Ghulam Mustafa Khar, Hafeez Pirzada and others kept mum on Bhutto’s execution, he added.

Ghulam said that the Bhutto clan chief, Sardar Aamir Bhutto, had recently summoned a meeting of the tribe’s elders to discuss the future course of action with the apathetic PPP leadership. “We decided not to quit the party and snatch our rights while remaining in the party fold,” he added.

A public meeting will soon be held in Moro to announce the future strategy. “The PPP belongs to the people of Pakistan and not to any particular person,” the Bhutto elder asserted.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 3^rd, 2012.