Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Recollections and Remembrances Foreword

AN IDEAL OF MILLIONS
Tariq Islam
When I was asked to write this article, my reaction oscillated between a sense of
pride and a degree of consternation. To recall memories of the Shaheed as an
uncle is a difficult and complex undertaking. Were he an ordinary man, an
ordinary uncle, one could fill pages with mere platitudes. He was neither Mr.
Bhutto the leader and legend towered high above ordinary mortals. From so
youthful an age so encumbered was he with his work and politics that one has to
journey repeatedly through the windmills of the mind to recall glimpses of an
unburdened, relaxed man who for a fleeting moment or two was simply an uncle.
I too, from a very young age was obsessed with the desire and passion to know
this great man as a leader more than to know him as simply an uncle. I was awed
by him. He fired my imagination even though I was no more than a boy. His
charisma worked with children too!
My love and admiration for the man was, in a strange surreal sense not an
ordinary one.... in the sense that love for Zulfikar Ali Bhutto the leader of men
transcended the love of a nephew for an uncle. During his time as a minister in
Ayub Khan’s cabinet, the Shaheed was a frequent visitor to our house in
Hyderabad, where we lived in those days. I can recollect so clearly his first visit
following his appointment as minister for Commerce. My parents had thrown a
huge party in his honour and our house was lit up like a bride. Hyderabad was a
much smaller city in those days --- almost rural in ambience. The commissioners,
D.Cs. the I.G.P., the city notables and the feudals were all there. A shy little boy
waited excitedly at the portals away from the sprawling lawns where the guests
were assembled. His cavalcade arrived amid the blare of sirens. As he stepped
out of his car, I waited on my haunches while my parents greeted hint .... then
like a sprinter making the final lunge to the finishing line. I rushed towards him
to offer my congratulations. I could see that he was touched. He broke into a
broad grin and holding my hand he asked me to accompany him to the waiting
guests. For me that was a moment of uncontrolled ecstasy, as I loved being near
him and listening to him talk to the grown ups. I would happily surrender two
hours of his time chatting to me for listening to two minutes of his conversation
and his views expressed to politicians and officials. So many names, so many
faces. He knew them all by name and had a different greeting for each. The
discussion ranged from a crop failed in Tando-Jam to the machinations of super
powers.
The Shaheed’s rise in the Ayub government was meteoric, reaching a climax with
his appointment to the portfolio where his real passion lay. He became Pakistan’s
Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, Recollections and Remembrances; Copyright © www.bhutto.org
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