Benazir Bhutto - SZABIST

The elites have gone hoarse demonising the Bhuttos and Asif Zardari for several decades. That, and
the repeated listing of the national managers’ “achievements by technocratic criteria, have not been
able to dent the love and adulation that the Bhutto family inspires.
Amidst the mourning for our beloved Benazir Bhutto, the succession to her mantle has rightly passed
to her son, Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, and her husband, Asif Ali Zardari. Bilawal represents the Bhutto
bloodline; Asif Zardari symbolizes the great sacrifices of a couple that could have left politics and
lived a good life, as asked of them by successive intelligence generals. But people whose rise in life as
the result only of their job choices do not comprehend the power of belief in a cause.
Benazir Shaheed and Asif Zardari shared the belief in the people’s right to choose. For that
commitment to democracy, Benazir Shaheed risked her life and Asif Zardari languished in prison
instead of taking the easy way out of quitting their struggle. The Bhutto-Zardari family will have
throngs of adulatory supporters long after their tormentors are dead and gone. How many people,
motivated by nothing but love, risk their lives to hear a speech by the inheritors of Ayub Khan, or
Ziaul Haq who governed for many more years but never ruled anyone’s heart?
For most people, fear is instinctive. The Bhutto family is perhaps amongst that rare breed that never
allows fear to venture in their lives. Much will be written in the days to come about the Bhutto legacy.
But even their worst critics would have to recognize that the Bhuttos’ populist fearlessness is what
Pakistan’s entrenched establishment has feared most. This fearlessness was shared by the father, the
brothers and Benazir Bhutto. Only a fearless Benazir Bhutto dared to question the entrenched
authority of General Musharraf and the violent obscurantism of the terrorists.
The various segments of Pakistan’s establishment – military, civil, religious, economic and social –
have all hated the Bhuttos for more than three decades. The events in the country following Benazir
Bhutto’s return from exile on October 18 needs to be seen in that context.
The military establishment, represented by General Pervez Musharraf, engaged with Benazir Bhutto
for what was meant to be a transition to democracy. While they were engaging with her they were also
trying to damage her by describing the negotiations as a “deal”. They expected to weaken her support
with constant refrains of “power-sharing deal” and “American backing” before allowing her to return
to Pakistan. The attitude of several members of the intelligentsia, which fell for the psychological
warfare tactics aimed at compromising Shaheed Benazir’s democratic credentials, created the illusion
of dissent within PPP ranks. This rekindled the establishment’s hopes of finishing off politically the
populist Bhutto creed in Pakistan’s politics and enforcing the guided democracy model that all
military rulers since Ayub Khan have preferred.
But Benazir Bhutto knew better. She knew that her strength lay in the people of Pakistan and if she
managed to reach out to them and connect with them she would be able to win back her support. To
do that she needed some freedom of movement in the country and that she ensured through
negotiations. Despite the harsh comments of her detractors and critics, she created space not only for
herself but for all democratic political forces.
Her massive welcome reception and the mobilization from across the country proved once again that
despite years of propaganda to taint the Bhutto name she was still a formidable force. Pakistan’s
politics were incomplete without her presence and that of her party. The suicide bombing at the
Karachi rally on her arrival sent a clear message to Shaheed Benazir that she was welcome to do
politics but only within the bounds defined by the establishment. They asked her not to go out and
meet people.