Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Recollections and remembrances

BHUTTO SAHIB IN THE CAMERA’S EYEZahid HussainIn 1969, I was working for Nawa-e-Waqt. In those days I accompanied BhuttoSahib wherever he would go. My management accused me of ignoring myprofessional work and spending too much time covering Bhutto Sahib. I wasserved a notice. Bhutto Sahib learnt of it and was very annoyed. At that timeHanif Ramay was editor of a monthly called NUSRAT and plans were beingmade to bring out the party paper ‘MUSAWAT’. Once while Bhutto Sahib was atFalettis various delegations were visiting him. I was also there to photographhim. Seeing my condition he called me and asked me what was my problem. Iinformed him about the notice. He summoned Hanif Ramay and instructed himto have me as a photographer for Musawat when it was launched. As such I wasthe first person to get appointment orders for Musawat.Although I took a lot of pictures of Bhutto Sahib he never commented on them,however Begum Sahiba would often pass her observations to me.“My work was of a very delicate nature and Bhutto Sahib used certain signs totell me when to click my flash only and whether to photograph a person or not. Inpublic meetings I used my own discretion. He used to meet people daily from9.00 a.m to 3.00 p.m and after half an hour break he would resume receivingvisitors again until 9.00 p.m. His specific instructions were to avoidphotographing him alone with any lady visitor. However if this could not beavoided it should be shown in its proper perspective. Once a ladies delegationcalled on Shaheed Quaid, after the delegation left one of the ladies insisted onbeing photographed standing close to Bhutto Sahib. He signaled to me to use theflash only. Soon the same lady came to me for a copy of the photograph whichwas never taken. Diplomatically I kept putting her off. Some times peopleinterested in obtaining party tickets would get their photographs taken alonewith Bhutto Sahib. Their purpose was to use these photographs to influencepeople for obtaining the party ticket and thereafter use it in their electioncampaign to attract votes.Once Rasool Bux Talpur visited Bhutto Sahib and fell at Shaheed Quaid’s feet. Iphotographed this scene and kept the photo for my record. When Rasool BuxTalpur became Senior Minister Sindh under Zia regime the same photographwas used by PPP workers in a pamphlet against him.Usually I never attended his private functions because these did not needZulfikar Ali Bhutto, Recollections and Remembrances; Copyright © www.bhutto.org 159