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.
I endorse bhutto did blunder but it was one of the reasons leading to present mess.Bhutto failed to bring about reforms and to mobilize society for nation building.The same forces which Bhutto spared devoured him.Zia in fact did real damage bringing total disillusionment.
Objective Resolution, Anti Ahmadi Movement of 1952, coining of ideology of Pakistan, Bhutto’s blunder vis a vis Ahmadis and Ziaism, all need to be considered in conjuction for analyzing present ideological mess.
Another Bhutto conversation preserved by the Late Khalid Hasan on the Topic.
http://www.thepersecution.org/news/2006/dtp1126.ht ml
“I asked him (Prof Salam) why he had resigned after the 1974 decision. He told me that it was the same question Bhutto had asked him. “Salam, what is this? Why have you resigned as chief scientific adviser?” Salam told him that after the national assembly verdict declaring his entire community of Ahmadi Muslims non-Muslim, he could not possibly continue. “But Salam that is all politics,” Bhutto told him, then added, “Give me time; I will change it. Believe me.” Salam said to Bhutto, “All right Zulfi, I believe you, but write down what you have told me on a plain piece of paper and it will remain between the two of us, forever and always.” Bhutto’s reply was classic Bhutto, “Salam, I can’t do that; I am a politician.”
A truly terrible event that occurred in Bhutto’s time was genocide of Ahmadis in 1974. Unfortunately Bhutto did not do enough to stop this massacre, unlike 1953 when government took a stern action against agitators. As a result numerous Ahmadis were killed and mosques and properties destroyed. A partial list is here; http://www.thepersecution.org/facts/h71-80.html
This was a watershed moment in history of Pakistan when religious extremists finally got the upper hand and acquired ability to blackmail governments as desired, due to unwillingness or inability of the Bhutto government to provide a robust resistance. Perhaps Bhutto thought the problem would go away if he kept his eyes closed. We are repeating the same error with Taliban in swat now.
I am sorry, even though the Ahmedia decision was a big big mistake and injustice, I DO NOT think that it is the CAUSE of all the mess we are now in. Lets not mix up things. I agree that was wrong and an injustice. But lets not be one-track about this either.
The problems you are seeing in Pakistan all stem from the decision that Bhutto took on teh Ahmedis and that has led to the rising power of the Mullahs. You reap what you sow!
I think ZAB regretted many things during his last days. His lawyer mentions something in passing in this BBC interview. I am not sure what he exactly meant though.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/urdu/multimedia/2009/04/09040 4_090404_bhutto_anniversary.shtml
Of all of Bhutto’s legacies, his decision on Ahmadis is the most tragic. I cannot imagine how he did this and why he did not thin of the consequences.
Oddly, of all his sins this is the one that is talked about the least and is the one that is least reversible.
I do not think we have slipped as deep into Mullahcracy as we have BECAUSE of this decision, but I do know that this decision was the first step towards the mess we are in and should have been the first indication of just how horrible it is to mix religion and government.
I fear that there is no scenario in which I see this being reversed anytime soon!!!
May Allah forgive all of us Pakistanis on what we have done here!
Those who opposed him are now competing with each other to declare him innocent.When mind gets blocked by narrow vision and hypocrisy Great people like Bhutto are eliminated.Bhuttos death by the hands of his chosen one will remove the word trust from dictionnary.To them who are still biased against him ,isnt it enough to see the poisonous fruits now erupting every were which were sown after him?which are engulfing you now.