Adil Najam
Today, April 4, marks the death anniversary of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto.
There is probably no other political figure since Mohammad Ali Jinnah who has left as deep and lasting a shaddow on Pakistan politics as Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto (ZAB). You can love him or hate him, but you cannot possibly ignore him.
Those who love him, love him with a passion that few - if any - other Pakistani leaders evoke. Those who hate him - and many seem to do - do so with equal ferocity. No one I know is indifferent to him.
I use the words “love” and “hate” because the intensity of people’s views on him cannot really be captured by dispassionate terms such as “like” and “dislike” alone. Whatever else we might think of him, no one can deny his intensity, or the intensity with which Pakistanis of all generations - including those who have never even seen him - talk about him.
So today, on his death anniversary, let me not talk about my views on him. Let him talk to us himself. In his own words and in his own unique and passionate style.
To quote Aitzaz Ahsan, ‘there was not much sympathy vote’ in Feb. 2008 elections; if there was much vote then, like the Congress Party in India of 1984 following Indira’s murder, PPP would have swept to power. But hardly. Yes, there was some sympathy vote but PPP could not even match its previous highest of 37% votes; this time it was only 33%.
And this argument of people being ‘emotional’ is along the same line as people being ‘uneducated’. When somebody from the West praises BB then it is painted as her and her party being a ‘puppet’ of the West. When Pakistanis vote for her party then they are dubbed ‘jahil awam’ etc.
To me PPP remains the best hope for uniting Pakistanis from all parts of Pakistan. If PPP had played the old game it could have its own Chief Minister in all 4 provinces while forming the govt. in the Center. It was not hard to do. Is there any other party which can claim that? MQM, PMLN, ANP, BNP are all basically ethnic-based parties. Look at the leadership of PMLN? Who do you see except politicians from Punjab? What do you think is going to happen if PMLN is voted into power on the back of votes from Punjab only? Do we not know the ethnic faultlines of Pakistan?
Today Pakistan faces grave internal and external dangers. The way to confront the dangers is to face them as a united country. It should be a matter of grave concern to all Pakistanis that Iran–a prime target of Western wrath since 1979–is far more peaceful than Pakistan which has been a ‘trusted ally’ for decades. Why is that so? It is because Iranians, while not perfect, are far more united in their nationhood. And if Pakistanis miss this chance given to them by the voters on Feb. 18th and let military and its henchmen rule then the consequences can be very harmful for Pakistan’s unity.
ZAB’s PPP is now a much weaker force in Pakistan thanks to relentless propaganda and repression spanning most of last 3 decades. But the party is still the most powerful uniting force in Pakistan. Weakening it and painting it as merely the party of Bhutto-clan is not going to help the cause of Pakistan.