Benazir Bhutto - SZABIST

A tribute to Benazir Bhutto
Nafisa Shah
For decades, Benazir Bhutto mesmerised the people of Pakistan. Her beauty, charisma, exuberance,
and intellect gave her a string of qualities that rallied people around her.
But more than all this, what gave her a mass appeal, were the circumstances under which she took on
the mantle of Pakistan Peoples Party, her father's Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto's most important
legacy. A young woman in her mid-twenties took on the challenge to lead Bhutto's party after he had
been hanged in a farcical trial by a military dictator. General Zia's coup brought a repressive regime,
when many People's Party workers were incarcerated, hanged, lashed, and several thousands went
underground for years. The young and fiery Benazir Bhutto, leaving her own suffering aside, became
a source of strength for her party, which she would lead from the front henceforth.
The Bhutto persona has been the backdrop to all of my life. I experienced Zulfikar Ali Bhutto's rise
and fall as a child, and then Benazir Bhutto's powerful presence, through my father, who has been on
the PPP landscape ever since its inception and has remained a central political figure in the party. My
own relationship with Benazir Bhutto was formal, with few communications, but I always awaited her
occasional assignments for the party that she would send out from time to time. Of course, Benazir
also gave me the first major push into Pakistan's murky politics by nominating me for the position of
Nazim of my home district.
Benazir adeptly transformed tragedy, oppression and threat into opportunity. She withstood arrests
and exiles with admirable courage. Her contributions towards strengthening and evolving Pakistan
People's Party are impressive. As a party head, she sang praise for those workers who suffered during
the Zia regime, and those who gave their life. She managed to string together dissenting groups and
individuals, and manage the conflicts within the party, and yet be cohesive force. There were
important continuities of the organisation from Bhutto's time. The concept of the 'PPP worker'
continued to be its defining feature. Under Zulifikar Ali Bhutto, the PPP worker, called jiyala, was
defined as a vocal, highly emotional, full of fervour, aggressive, straight speaking party activist, who
would tell it straight to the higher leaders of their weaknesses. The PPP worker did everything from
raising slogans, to participating in meetings to mobilising people on the ground, to resolving the dayto-day
issues. And most importantly the worker was fearless, immune to government pressures,
threats, arrests, and FIRs. This highly stylistic PPP worker has survived all trials and travails.
It would be more difficult to discuss Benazir's contributions as a Prime Minister, primarily because
even when she was at the helm of power, her rule was subject to back door intrigues by the dark
forces, and was allowed little space to execute her policies with a free hand. Here too, she was sinned
against, not for once being allowed to stay in power for the five years that people voted her for.
If I were to choose one enduring legacy in all of these aspects – it would be of her role in defining the
shape and agenda of popular politics in Pakistan. From Movement for Restoration of Democracy to
Alliance for Restoration of Democracy, Benazir Bhutto's politics could simply be summed up as a
struggle for restoration of a democratic order in a country that is increasingly perceived as a failed and
fragmented state hostage to a cartel of greedy and roguish commando generals reeking of US dollars,
arms, nuclear and drug trafficking, conspiracies of terror, sleazy deals– and bloodshed.
As she landed from her Dubai flight, we all noted that even physically she had become larger than life
itself. She seemed to be caste from marble, and she seemed invincible, standing out as a surreal image,