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 takeover 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
Article has been Published in ‘’Daily Times’’ on November 29th, 2018
The
Link to Article is: https://dailytimes.com.pk/327289/ppp-party-of-masses-sacrifices-and-tragedies-i/
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