Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: We have not forgotten late prime minister Benazir Bhutto and we never will.

But, sadly, 11 years on, fewer Pakistanis remember BB Shaheed and fewer still are willing to brave the creeping, silent, intimidating, ever-present, increasing threat to our inalienable right to dissent and to express ourselves freely in public.

With a handful of notable exceptions, even members of the small and diminishing band of BB’s “staunch, faithful loyalists” no longer mention her name in their public speeches, writings and regular appearances on television talk shows, other than on her anniversary.

Or perhaps it gets “edited” out? Who knows.

We wonder how the federal and provincial governments’ public sector education curriculum developers and the authors of Pakistan Studies textbooks, are planning to write the section on our twice-elected, first and only woman PM’s achievements and contributions, surmounting huge odds; her many firsts during her incredibly courageous and inspiring life and her brave sacrifice of it for her country, for democracy, for justice and for fundamental human rights.

Or will the true account of BB Shaheed’s life be glossed over in one or two heavily “edited” sentences, the way our textbooks now treat Bangladesh? And for how long can we afford to continue to glorify the opposite of peace-mongering? Will all those, who dare to suggest peace-building with our neighbours to our east and west, continue to be called out as “traitors”?

The best tribute civil society activists, organisations and networks can now offer to BB Shaheed is to demand posthumous justice for her, for publication of the true facts of her heinous assassination plot and for her life and contributions to be acknowledged and published by the state.

“BB humm sharminda hain, apke qatil niqaab may azaad hain.”

Rest in peace BB Shaheed.

This statement has been endorsed by a large number of civil society activists, networks, alliances, coalitions and platforms, which represent hundreds of civil society organisations and hundreds of individual human rights activists – members of

Women’s Action Forum

Ending Violence against Women & Girls Alliance

Insaani Huqooq Ittehaad

Child Rights Movement

Pakistan Reproductive Health Network

National Humanitarian Network

Fighting Against Dowry Network

Pakistan-India People’s Forum for Peace & Democracy.

Published in Daily Times, December 28^th 2018.