Benazir was indeed Benazir

Malik Muhammad Ashraf

Who in the Bhutto family would have ever thought that the girl born in the family on June 10 1953 and named Benazir will one day win the distinction of being the first Woman Prime minister of a Muslim country and the most Charismatic and popular political leader of the world. A leader of indomitable spirit and a heart-throb of the teeming millions, who would regard her as an epitome of deliverance from hopelessness and despair unleashed by the undemocratic and reactionary forces, hell bent to safeguard their vested interests.

Perhaps his father Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, who himself was a great visionary and the most charismatic leader of his time, could see in her a budding leader and a true successor to his legacy. That may be the reason why he tutored and groomed her in the art of politics instead of his sons. The faith and trust reposed in her by his illustrious father was not misplaced as she proved later on. When her father was hanged in 1979 by General Zia and the PPP leadership of the day deserted their leader and the party , Benazir took the mantle of PPP leadership and exhibited unprecedented courage in standing up to the dictator in the times of adversity. She proved to be a man , unruffled by the tragedy that had struck the family and showed remarkable commitment and resilience in pursuing the unfinished agenda left by her father; the agenda to ameliorate the lot of the poverty stricken masses and making them the real masters of their destiny, through ushering an era of popular rule.

The dictator used all resources at his command and devious machinations to break the will of the young and frail woman. But the lady proved to be steel nerved. Even the incarceration of six and half years could not make her yield to the dictates of the regime and dissuade her from her mission. And having failed to achieve his objective, the dictator finally allowed her to go to England for medical treatment in January 1984. She remained in exile for two years and continued to lead the PPP from her foreign abode. Meanwhile the dictator with the help of the reactionary forces made incessant efforts to obliterate PPP as a political force and may have even entertained the thought that by sending Benazir in exile and taming the opportunist PPP leadership he had succeeded to eliminate the Bhutto legacy. But he was terribly wrong, as by now Benazir had emerged as a symbol of resistance and hope against the dictatorial rule.

When Benazir returned to Pakistan on April 10, 1986, more than one million people thronged Lahore airport to greet her homecoming. The dictator was shaken by this tumultuous welcome and the support of the masses for the young lady, who by now was not only Bhutto’s daughter but had become a leader in her own right . That popularity was translated into political triumph for her two years later when her party returned as the single largest party in the elections held after the death of the dictator in a plane crash.

Benazir created history by becoming the youngest and the first woman Prime minister to lead a Muslim nation in the modern age in December 1988. Her election to the august office of Prime Minister of Pakistan symbolized great snub for the reactionary forces and peoples love for democracy. It also sent a loud and clear message to the world community that Pakistan was the most progressive Islamic country. But alas, Bhutto’s ordeal did not end by becoming the Prime minister. The establishment and the forces inimical to democratic norms who had made a tactical retreat in the face of the prevailing circumstances, reactivated themselves and her government was sacked after 20 months by the military-backed President Ghulam Ishaq Khan on cooked up corruption charges.

The sacking did not dampen her spirit. She continued to fight the adversities with exemplary commitment to her cause and made a comeback as Prime Minister in 1993 only to be dismissed again after three years by one of PPP’s own stalwart Farooq Leghari at the behest of the establishment. That was a classis example of betrayal to the party and its leader. The circumstances created by her political rival who succeeded her as Prime Minister, forced her into self-imposed exile in 1998. These successive set-backs in her political career hardly affected her stature as an undisputed leader of the masses. That instead added to her popularity among the masse and further strengthened her credentials as a torch bearer of democracy. Internationally also, she was recognized as the most progressive leader of the Muslim world. She was termed as the most popular politician of the world in the New Guinees Book of Records in 1996 and also included in the list of hundred most powerful women of the world by the “Australian Magazine”.

The toppling of Nawaz Sharif government by General Musharraf added a new dimension to her political woes. The General in an attempt to prolong his dictatorial rule introduced a constitutional amendment banning any political leader to hold the office of Prime Miniser for more than two terms. This move was ostensibly aimed at keeping both Nawaz Sharif and Benazir Bhutto out of the political arena and deny them any future role in the governance of the country. He also started vigorously pursuing the politically motivated false cases of corruption against her, instituted by the Nawaz regime in the Swiss courts with a view to discredit her.

However undeterred by these developments and the ensuing difficulties, Bhutto persisted with her struggle against dictatorship by lobbying the world governments, especially US, to exert pressure on the dictator to return the country to the democratic rule. Although the US leadership welcomed her whenever she visited US, it did nothing substantial to pressurize its ally in the war on terror. The general put up a political fa‡ade o his dictatorial rule by holding elections in the country but continued to enjoy plenipotentiary powers in the conduct of foreign relations and other issues of crucial national importance.

Unfortunately the general enjoyed unqualified support of US to his regime until he was rattled by the lawyers’ movement against the sacking of the Chief Justice which also had support of the masses. The circumstances forced US to facilitate rapprochement between Musharraf and Benazir Bhutto after the reality dawned on it that their man in Islamabad could not carry on unchallenged, any more.

The US backed patch up with Musharraf finally paved the way for her return to the country on October 18, 2007. No matter what her detractors might like to say, the move did reflect her political shrewdness and pragmatism. She knew that the only way the general could be dislodged was to return to the country. She however was aware of the risks to her life and with a prophetic precision had predicted her assassination at the hands of the reactionary forces as reflected in her message to Mark Siegel.

Her second homecoming undoubtedly was a bigger event than her return from exile during Zia era. Millions turned to greet their beloved leader. As predicted by her an attempt was made to kill her through a bomb blast at her rally. She was lucky to survive the attack but about 140 people lost their lives. Even this close shave with death could not keep her away from the masses and she made a conscious decision to continue with her election campaign despite obvious threats to her life, showing unmatched courage and dedication to her ideals. But unfortunately her epic struggle for democracy ended with her assassination at Rawalpindi on 27 December, 2007.

As is evident, she had a political career beset with severe trials and tribulations but she never faltered in her resolve to fight the anti-people entities. It was a story of unparalleled valour and sacrifice. Her character truly matched her name, which means unprecedented.

It might sound a little superstitious but her life and achievements are a ranting proof of the fact that names do have a bearing on ones character. She certainly belied the notion “what is in the name”. She showed to the world that Benazir was indeed Benazir as visualized by her father. She may have been eliminated physically but she has left an indelible mark on the political canvass of Pakistan which will forever continue to haunt the forces inimical to democracy and act as a beacon light for the down-trodden masses yearning to see Pakistan marching on a sustainable path to popular rule.