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.
You can visit ATP on your Mobile Phone. Here's how!
na tera Pakista hai..
na mera Pakista hai..
jis ka Pakistan hai..
wo Bhutto khandan hai..
Just a minor point re posting of PakAm Muslim says:
April 4th, 2008 7:58 pm.
I do not know much about being a Muslim but was not it Mr Bhutto who declared Ahmadis non Muslims and thus made millions of Pakistanis lives awful.
Is this not a fact that every Pakistani leader from Quaid to Mushraff (except Gen. Zia) enjoyed wine and whiskey and Bhuotto was the one who banned drink, but continued to drink himself, so the most of the upper classes. Unless we face facts honestly we will never become a democracy. Nation needs to look at itself inorder to be around another 60 years.
The fate of his faith, like all of ours, is between him and Allah alone.
Good article and generally very nice comments too. ‘you can love him or hate him, but you cannot possibly ignore him’ is equally correct. Mr. Kaiser has a point that many agree with, only history will validate it or otherwise. ZAB had charisma that pulled the crowds around him, had the intelligence to lead and his followers be loved, had ample time at his disposal to make this country what the founding fathers wanted it to be but somehow somewhere he got distracted, made a few blunders, a few grave ones, and he was doomed, very unfortunate! His end should not have been the way it did but then it is the destiny……of the likes of him.
May Allah bless his soul.
As someone mentioned before, Bhutto was a master politician; the way he exploited the vacuum left by the PML and created the PPP is something to think about. His famous deal with India to bring the troops home was perhaps his finest moment in foreign policy; and their way of paying him back by executing him was perhaps the darkest moment in our countrys history.
I think the main problem with Bhutto was his arrogance…and that may have been because other people were too fearful of him, and his own circle did not challenge and critique his decisions when they should have.
I highly recommend the book by Stanley Wolpert, “Zulfi Bhutto of Pakistan.” It’s really well written and unbiased (i.e. Wolpert is not Sindhi)….one of the things that struck me when I read it a few years ago was that ZAB was actually a very self-conscious man, and had somewhat of an inferiority complex, which is ironic because he’s probably the most aggressive, as far as mannerisms, etc are concerned, prime minister or president we’ve ever had. According to Wolpert, Jinnah was the only one ZAB genuinely respected.
ZAB certainly wasn’t an angel, and he certainly did a lot of things wrong, but the way he (non-violently) fought until the bitter end makes him a hero in my book.
Can any one in the whole world icluding Amir of jamaat/e/Islami qualify or claim as true Muslim as enunciated in the Holy quoran?
Humans can only TRY? this applies to every religion.
The videos ARE working for me.
And these are amazing videos, all four of them. That Security COuncil speech and some of the other ones are amazing to see now.
Can we call Z.A. Bhutto and honest person????
When Z. A. Bhutto was on trial he was accused of being a “Muslim in name only”. This accusation was levelled by the Lahore High Court Judgment against him of March 1978. Bhutto was very bitter about this, as he has himself stated in his book “If I am assasssinated” on page 41: To vindicate the judgement of the Lahore High Court that I am “ a Muslim only in name”.
In his appeal to Pakistan Supreme Court ZAB said:
“He [Bhutto] said that it was an acknowledged principle that the person who recites the Kalima [There is no God, but Allah and Muhammad is His messenger.] is a Muslim, and no one has the right to call him a non-Muslim. Citing an instance, chairman [of the People's Party] Bhutto said that Abu Sufyan, a great enemy of the Holy Prophet, was brought to him. He claimed to have recited the Kalima, but the Holy Prophet’s Companions argued that he had not done it with his heart, and they wanted to kill him. But the Holy Prophet said that as he had recited the Kalima, he was now a Muslim, and could not be harmed.”
(Urdu Daily Masawat, Lahore, Wednesday 20 December 1978, front page, column 1)
According to Article 62 of 1973 constitution:
62. Qualifications for membership of Majlis-e-Shoora (Parliament).
A person shall not be qualified to be elected or chosen as a member of Majlis-e-Shoora (Parliament) unless :-
(e) he has adequate knowledge of Islamic teachings and practises obligatory duties prescribed by Islam as well as abstains from major sins [consumption of alcohol; adultry];
Now the same ZAB, using support of his National Assembly members [many of them including ZAB did NOT qualify to be national assembly member according to article 62], for POLITICAL PURPOSES and to steal “religious victory” from religious parties declared reciters of Kalima-Tayyaba as Kaffirs. [Please note: I am NOT member of Ahmadiyya, whose Calif resides in London,UK]. This ZAB did by enecting 2nd Constitutional ammendment in 1973 constitution, in 1974.
ZAB statement in SCP was in reply to the accusation (by CJ LHC, Maulvi Mushtaq Hussain] that he was “a Muslim in name only”. So before the end of his life Bhutto discovered the true definition of a Muslim and himself presented it in court.
Make your judgement about ZAB honesty. ZAB knew defination of Muslim, and still he did opposite to that in 2nd constitutional ammendment.