November 30, is a day for all of us, all the senior leadership and workers included, to celebrate as part of a political party, which was formed to represent the federation throughout the country. Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto — the founding father of Pakistan Peoples Party — was a leader with great political wisdom being a born politician and reformer with charming personality and intellect to influence his contemporaries. The PPP over time, under the leadership of Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and then Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto, grew bigger with the efforts and sacrifices of the leadership and its workers.
Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto left the government of FM Ayub Khan as Foreign Minister over Tashkent Agreement and formed his political party — Pakistan Peoples Party — on 30th November 1967, to give voice to the poor, labourers and peasants alike, to make them aware of their rights and how to secure their future. The wave of support of the masses for Mr. Bhutto scared the military junta resultantly a civil-military wedge was ignited by Ayub Khan, when he was going to announce his party by openly firing on him. Though he survived the attack but a rift and inimical mind set was put in motion.
Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was sworn in as the PM of Pakistan in 1973, and then as Prime Minister consequent to promulgation of the 1973 Constitution, emerged as the most popular leader not only of Pakistan but also as a leader of the Muslim Ummah. He was the man who put us on the road to development, which was shattered by successive military governments. He was the one to lay the foundation of true democracy and paid the price for it heavily. It was he who gave a unanimously approved Constitution to the country, which provided and ensured the autonomy to federating units of the country.
His wisdom and foresight, made him realize the importance of the strong defense of the country against the hegemonic posture of India and the US in the region. In the background of potential nuclear threats from India, Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto conceived and put in motion a nuclear program. His remarkable declaration about nuclear power is still remembered by the nation: “We (Pakistan) will eat grass, even go hungry, but we will get one of our own (Atom bomb)…. We have no other choice!”
On the diplomatic front, he realized the importance of neighbours of Pakistan and further strengthened the alliance with China as Prime Minister of Pakistan, which he had already forged as Foreign Minister of the country. China became a strong ally for Pakistan during his regime as Prime Minister. He even facilitated the US to improve its relations with China.
He Introduced social reforms in Pakistan and stood up against capitalism. Unfortunately, Gen. Zia — a right-wing General of that time — overthrew his government with the backing and support of the US that was bent upon containing socialist leaders of Muslim countries whereas non-Muslim countries following socialist policies, India included, at that time of point were never touched or countered
He Introduced social reforms in Pakistan and stood up against capitalism. Unfortunately, Gen. Zia — a right-wing General of that time — overthrew his government with the backing and support of the US that was bent upon containing socialist leaders of Muslim countries whereas non-Muslim countries following socialist policies, India included, at that time of point were never touched or countered. The then US Secretary of State, Mr. Henry Kissinger, on record threatened him of dire consequences if he did not roll back the nuclear programme.
It was Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto who restored the moral of the people of Pakistan by bringing back 93000 POWs from India besides securing back vast areas of Pakistani territory under Indian occupation after the 1971 Indo-Pak war through an agreement with India under the Simla Agreement of 1972. He stood up as a leader and secured the release of POWs and Pakistani territory, even he was representing a defeated country.
His support amongst the poor, labourers, students, landless and women was incomparable to any other politician of Pakistan. It was this love of people and his love for the people, which rightfully earned him title of Quaid-e-Awam. He served the people of the country till the last day in office and beyond that.
Finally in order to eliminate ZAB from the political scene for once and all, he was falsely implicated in the murder case of Nawab Muhammad Ahmed Kasuri. I having gone through each file pertaining to the investigation of ZAB can confidently say that it was a tutored case to finally execute him in 1979. Even Justice Nasim Hasan Shah confessed that it was not a fair trial. Even the former Chief Justice of Pakistan Mr. Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry — a staunch opponent of PPP — also remarked that the trial of ZAB was “not a good trial” while hearing the Reference filed by the then President of Pakistan.
People were still hoping that Zia would not hang Bhutto but 5th April 1979, was a black day in Pakistan’s history; a PM from Sindh was hanged to death and was shipped through a cargo plane to Mohenjo Daro under the cover of darkness.
His beloved daughter, Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto could not even hug her father for the last time, as she wasn’t allowed to step inside the cell. This judicial murder of her father made her undertake a journey to put the country back on the road to democracy to avenge the take over of the government by the military. She had always professed that, “Democracy is the best revenge”, which proved to be a valid way of revenge when she took the oath of office for the Prime Minister of Pakistan in August 1988, becoming the first Muslim lady to hold the title.
The family suffered a lot when Begum Nusrat Bhutto was tortured; Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto was put in jail as a young girl and finally the family was put into exile. The sacrifice of Begum Nusrat Bhutto as a political victim of Gen Zia remains unquestioned. She began to lose her memory after she suffered a head injury during a PPP procession, when the police lathi charged in Karachi. She was a brave lady.
Soon after this, another tragedy came their way when Shah Nawaz Bhutto was murdered in 1985 in Nice, France. I was ordered as the Director of FIA to investigate and report back about his murder. I returned and gave a full briefing on the murder of Shah Nawaz and I disclosed to BB as that he was given war poison and how he was left alone in his sitting room. The French authorities charged his Afghani wife for leaving her husband dying. Why was he killed and who was behind this murder; I will unveil the facts soon.
Shaheed Benazir Bhutto made historic and comprehensive policy measures and initiatives to set the country and the people on the path of development. Some of the major unprecedented reforms of her being the PM of Pakistan included establishment of First Women Bank, establishment of world’s first all women police station, holding of SAARC conference in Pakistan, eradication of poppy plantation in the country and establishment of the new Ministry for Anti-Narcotics, distribution of free sewing machines among widows/needy women to enable them to earn their own livelihood, establishment of a separate Ministry for Youth Affairs for the first time in the country and establishment of a Women’s Ministry for the first time for gender development and to address women specific issues.
On August 2, 1990, charging official corruption, nepotism, the then President Ghulam Ishaq Khan, exercising his powers under infamous Article 58(2)(b) of the Constitution, dismissed her government by dissolving the national and provincial assemblies.
He also scheduled new elections for October 1990. Over the next three years Bhutto constantly pressed for new elections despite the fact that she and her husband faced false charges of corruption. Her persistence led to repeated clashes with government forces amid charges of intimidation and partisan violence but she never gave up.
During both regimes she faced politically motivated allegations of corruption by her political opponents from Islamist parties and the military made certain plans to destabilize her inexperienced administration as both of the governments led by her were dismissed amid allegations of corruption and incompetence. In between the two Bhutto administrations, Mr. Asif Zardari was consistently victimized and also arrested in 1990 and 1991, on charges of corruption; the charges were eventually dropped as it was proven that the charges were politically motivated. Most of those arrested were subsequently released.
The writer is Chairman of think tank Global Eye and former Interior Minister of Pakistan. He can be reached at [email protected], and tweets @Senrehmanmalik
Published in Daily Times, November 29th 2018.