Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Recollections and remembrances

I was discussing the statement with the Shaheed when late Mr. Mohammad AliBogra entered the party. The Shaheed said. “The very statement on which you areso happy has upset Mr. Bogra. He has termed it as interference in his ministry”.“I support you”. I said, “Kashmir concerns every Pakistani. It is not a matter ofpromotion of some section officer in the foreign ministry, which is the exclusiveperogative of the minister concerned”.After the party the students requested Mr. Bhutto to come to the college toaddress them some day.A few months later Mr. Bogra died and Shaheed was made the Foreign Minister.Late Mr. A. M. Qureshi arranged for our meeting with him at 70 Clifton. Howeverthe meeting could not take place due to the busy schedule of Mr. Bhutto. But wemet him the same day at Cantonment Railway Station. He promised that he willcome to our college to address the students. I proposed that we must also invitethe Chinese and American Ambassadors. Late Mr. A. M. Qureshi advised that weshould wait a week or ten days. As a result of Mr. Qureshi’s efforts the ChineseRussian and American Ambassadors also came to Islamia College to attendBhutto Shaheed’s function.Another problem came up due to my immature eagerness to sit on the stage. Mr.G. M. Khan was in those days the Principal of Islamia Arts College and Mr.Justice A. B. Memon that of Islamia Law College. The decision made by Mr.Bhutto himself was that if the representative of one of the unions sits on the stagethen the representative of all the unions should sit on the stage. He called me tothe Principal’s room and asked, if I wanted the Ambassadors or foreign countriesto gather the impression that our voting generation did not know how to takecare of their guests? He proposed if it would not be better that they carry theimpression that we really cared for them, and did our utmost to make them feelcomfortable.After the function the Shaheed asked Mr. A. M. Qureshi that he should sometime bring Saeed over to see him. I went to see hint after the 1965 war. Therewould be hardly any Pakistani who would not have heard his United Nationsspeech two or three times. It as the voice of every Pakistani, people of Pakistanloved Bhutto with all their heart.In 1967 he resigned from the government. I had by then become the generalsecretary of K.D.A. employees union. Accompanied with my Union colleaguesI went to see Mr. Bhutto at 70. Clifton. He was surrounded by hundreds ofpeople. With a lot of difficulty I made my way in. He immediately recognizedme.Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, Recollections and Remembrances; Copyright © www.bhutto.org 155