Benazir Bhutto Shaheed

Dr.Habib Nawab*
"The time is up," the superintendent says. "The time is up."

I grip the bars.

"Please open up the cell," I ask him. "I want to say goodbye to my father."

The superintendent refuses.

"Please," I say. "My father is the elected prime minister of Pakistan. I am his daughter. This
is our last meeting. I want to hold him."

The superintendent refuses.

I try to reach my father through the bars. He is so thin, almost wasted away from malaria,
dysentery, starvation. But he pulls himself erect and touches my hand (Bhutto, 2014).

This was the story of a young teenage child, whose age was to play and enjoy. Indeed it was a
tragedy that the first elected prime minister of Pakistan was in a death cell. The hope of the
poor peasants and workers of Pakistan; the hope of Islamic countries most of whom were
underdeveloped and their resources were exploited by the core countries. Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto
was going to be immortal for the world by receiving the death penalty. Was it the end of
Pakistan’s working-class struggle? Who will lead the nation to democracy? Who will become
the voice of the voiceless?

Yes, you are right the teenage girl who bear the pain of separation from his father in a
death cell. Pakistan is a country divided into a multi-ethnic, multicultural, multi-linguistic and
multi sect society and above all strictly a patriarchal one. Here pity family matters are sorted
out by men; women have no say in any kind of decision-making process. Such a society was
led by Benazir Bhutto, she consoled the nation she gave hope, she becomes the princess of
hearts for the nation. After a long political struggle, when she was elected as the first Muslim
ruler of the Islamic world, and youngest prime minister of the world was a revolution in
itself. She becomes the precedent for Muslim women leaders like Khalida Zia, Tanso Ciller,
Chandrika Kumaratunga, Sheikh Hassena and others in later years. Women’s suffrage that
Europe and America achieved after a long struggle, Benazir made that possible in a nation
that was brutally divided by dictators into sects and ethnicities.

Benazir Bhutto was a motherly figure she was and will be considered as a symbol of peace as
evident from her interview in 1986. She stated that’’ we could have taken power over
yesterday if my party had believed in violence if we had believed in bloodshed that crowd
was so responsive that we could have taken Lahore yesterday the canttnonemnet the
assemblies could have been burnt down and raised to the ground and no matter how many
army Gen Zia called in there was nothing they could do because when you have 5 million
people which is what they were from the airport to the minar or two million people at the
minar itself, there is no number of people, who can do anything against that but my party did
not want bloodshed, my party does not want violence. And we again repeated that hear the
call of the people and give us a day for immediate election’’ (Bhutto, 2020).

Similarly, she was in favour of peace and dialogue with neighbouring countries.
Addressing, India Today she told that we should eliminate our common enemy that is
poverty, hunger, unemployment and backwardness. Militants are our common enemies; they
are the enemies of peaceful relations between India and Pakistan (India Today Conclave,
2011).

Moreover, she strongly believed in political dialogue for conflict resolution anywhere around
the world. Talking on Afghanistan’s issue her views were that ‘’there is no other solution but
a political solution to the Afghanistan crisis, US will go away as it did in Vietnam when their
interest is finished, but we will live with Afghanistan as we are geographically linked’’
("Young Benazir Bhutto on Afghan War and Zia ul Haq", 2016).

Benazir was bold and brave and in the meantime not egoistic as evident from her speech she
criticised the west for supporting dictatorships, she sensitized the west that their support is
contributing to terrorism in the region, extremism and hatred for the west by masses.
Moreover, she was not egoistic because she told that we are in dialogue with the military
regimes for a peaceful transfer of power to democracy, so that suicide bombings and
intolerance in the nation may come to an end (UChannel, 2007).

Despite the so many qualities of her personality, that is peace within the party, peace with
neighbouring countries and eradication of poverty hunger, extremism and intolerance she was
assassinated at Liaqat Bagh, Rawalpindi on 27th December 2007. Leaders like Benazir
doesn’t die due to cough or heart attack etc., they embraced a dignified martyrdom for a
noble cause. May her soul rest in peace. The hope of the poor peasants and workers, the hope
of the jobless, diseased persons, missing persons, destitute got killed too. The nation became
orphaned. The death of a mother is greatly and deeply felt. The nation must think over the
questions, for how long will it lose its leaders in a blood bath? Masses come to the streets for
a decisive transfer of power after decades, does the political cadre prepare for it? We still
have a hope. Long live Pakistan.

Dr. Habib Nawab

References

Benazir Bhutto. (2020). [DVD].

Bhutto, B. (2014). Daughter of the East (p. 11). London: Simon & Schuster, Limited.

India Today Conclave. (2011). Benazir Bhutto speech at India Today Conclave 2007 [Video].
Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3njKwaxhRRk

UChannel. (2007). A Conversation with Benazir Bhutto [Video]. Retrieved from

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ePsjmZbdm_s
 Young Benazir Bhutto on Afghan War and Zia ul Haq. (2016). Retrieved 18 December 2021,
from https://web.facebook.com/watch/?
ref=search&v=1138211846190771&external_log_id=7ea27b28-7ad3-4896-863b-
1d17ea32b1e5&q=benazir%20bhutto

*Dr. Habib Nawab faculty at University of Chitral, Chitral He is an academician, political

sociologist and fellow Peoples Professors Forum National Think Tank Pakistan