Sir: These past five years of the PPP were probably the worst in Pakistan’s history. We saw nothing but plunder and pillage. It is equally vexing that an audacious pack of media representatives of the party often appear on television talk shows and not only defend the wrongdoings of their party but boast of their victory in the upcoming elections. Another very interesting term used by PPP media representatives is ‘Bhuttoism’; the term itself is very interesting and deserves some explanation. Bhuttoism consists of two parts: Bhutto and ism. The word ‘ism’ has philosophical connotations, used as socialism or existentialism, etc. The term means Bhutto’s philosophy. No one has ever confronted the PPP’s leaders to effectively define it. If one casts an eye on Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s life, the founder of the party and the first civil martial law administrator of Pakistan, one can draw an objectives based sketch of his political life. He entered politics in the mid-50s as a minister in the non-democratic, dictatorial regime of Iskandar Mirza. The next boss he found was General Ayub Khan whom he served from 1958 to November 1966. He left the government only when he developed differences with his boss over the 1965 war and some issues concerning his personal life. He was perfectly at ease with both dictatorial regimes and never bothered about democracy and principles. He founded a party apparently on the basis of socialism rather than on Islamic socialism and allied himself with progressive leftists in industrialised urban Pakistan. He also sided with the status quo-loving feudals in the rural areas of Sindh and Punjab, which speaks of the height of his pragmatism to win the elections. Leaving his role in the Dhaka debacle aside, once he attained power, he abandoned his leftist comrades to win the support of right-wing status quo forces to strengthen and perpetuate his rule. He failed miserably to confine the military to the barracks and promoted sycophancy with his attitude when dealing with the top army brass. He showed no political acumen at the time of the promotion of the military chief. He was sent to the gallows by none other than his own handpicked army chief. Bhuttoism is the new name of pragmatism or realism and these terms have been there for ages. The PPP government’s policy of reconciliation is yet another name for Bhuttoism. Replacing idealism with pure power politics is Bhuttoism and, surprisingly, Imran Khan nowadays can often be seen drawing an analogy of his politics with Bhutto’s politics in his public gatherings MALIK ATIF MAHMOOD MAJOKA Melbourne, Australia