Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Remembered

re:#149 by ahmadzai
So, if i criticize Pak, i am a Paki hater. Read my posts to Gujjubania about ``India shining`` and by your definition, i should be a India hater too!
NO wonder you do not understand the very concept of democracy.
Sridhar

It appears that CHOWK is in a bit of a hurry these days and this writing is about

to be history. So a few quick points towards the replies...

RE: 1 godot; you give ZAB too much negative credit. I know a little bit about former East
Pakistan, ZAB was the best scapegoat that an ashamed nation could find.

RE: 2 rozaiba; how are things going?

Re: 3 harimau; Did you know him personally?

RE: 4 Mantolives; no more ``Jiyay Bhutto`` from you? Marriage is a huge responsibility..

RE: 5 Ijaz_Gul; Which other crook? Where is Xerox Khan?

RE: 6 Cemendtaur; I guess that it is not the job of reporters to judge but to report.

Re: 7 nooralain; Your point is well taken but Pakistan needs something....

RE: 8 Romair; give the man some credit. he has been dead 25 years....

Re: 9 Labyrinth1; In Death Bhutto ended up living much longer than the generals...

Re: 10 PunjabiZulu; Indira he was not. ``Indra is India`` is not ``Bhutto is Pakistan``

Re: 11-13 ihafeez: good to hear from a jiyala even though I am not one.

Re: 15 tainted; Thanks! I could not agree with you more.

RE: 17 goddess; which board are you on?

The most authentic and touching to heart book on Bhutto which discusses his failures and at few times successes is ``Journey to Disillusionment``, by Sher Baz Khan Mazari, his friend and later on opponent who knew him since 1953, when Bhutto came to Pakistan from abroad. This is the one book which everyone would relish and trust.

#15 by tainted on April 21, 2004 5:11am PT
Tainted, you rightly pointed out that still millions would forgive Benazir due to his father. Its a reality, and I myself bear witness to it, that i am thorougly disgusted with her style of government and the way corruption is carried out in her 1993 government, but still i owe vote to PPP for life time due to ZAB and gave vote to PPP in 2002 elections.
Imran Hafeez

Ras:

Almost done, but not quite.

#17 by goddess on April 21, 2004 8:46am PT
re:#149 by ahmadzai
So, if i criticize Pak, i am a Paki hater. Read my posts to Gujjubania about ``India shining`` and by your definition, i should be a India hater too!
NO wonder you do not understand the very concept of democracy.
Sridhar

That wasn`t meeeee :-

I would have loved to add to the topic, but will refrain from doing so at the cost of sounding rude. The apparent sentimental value, you gentlemen, have attached to him is overwhelming. I`ve had the pleasure of being very closesly related to a few people who worked in close proximity with Mr.Bhutto for a long time and I assure you not very many had a good word to put in for him. Of course their stories could have been biased.. yada yada yada.. theres no real point in being judgmental.

What`s the chant again ? Jeay Bhutto ?

ras:
ji, agreed that pakistan needs something, but another bhutto?

it`s rather unfair in a way to ask the question sinner or saint, because first of all there is no one in this world who is NOT a sinner. and there are many in this world who do not get recognized as saints. but zulfiqar ali bhutto in the true sense of the word was not a saint. and it is no disrespect to his memory to say so.

i spent the most amount of time i`ve spent in pakistan during the bhutto years, i saw some positive things around me, and i was satisfied. life was good, for the most part. but my vision as a child/adolescent was limited. bhutto was good for pakistan in some ways, but let us not be in denial of his mistakes and missteps either. those were far too many in comparison to the good. and forgive me, but i have heard enough and read enough about his quashing of the baluch rebellion by allowing a massacre, and no. . .we do not need leaders who find killing to be the ultimate solution to a `problem.` we have had enough leaders like that, thank you.

tainted: i agree wholeheartedly with what you say about respecting the dead. but there are those in pakistan who have little to no respect for the living. . .how then can we expect them to have respect for the dead?

noor, 23: “i agree wholeheartedly with...respecting the dead.”

noor, you are too intelligent to really mean that...because by that logic we all should be very respectful to Hitler, and the history should be respectful and kind to Milosovic after he’s dead.

Ras (18), I give credit where credit is due, whether negative or positive. You are whitewashing due to your affection for ZAB. Be thorough and objective. You are a journalist.

godot,

perhaps i am not that intelligent afterall. : )

Bhutto, in my view, was only a `Wadera` , a show-man, with no conviction or commitment to any heigher ideal or ism. Like a wadera he wanted more and more power. He gave a constitution to Pakistan but later made it a `Fatwa` to save his government from the onslaught of the mulla. This Fatwa corrupted the constitution so much that today the faith of the citizenz of Pakistan, especially those who call them Muslims has become a matter of inquiry by the state, shaking the very basis of national identity which was all the more important for a country based on the idealogy of Muslim Nationhood, instead of ethnic, linguistic or geographical identity. This Fatwa is the Super Constitution now which remains intact even when the real constitution goes to the dogs. This Fatwa is now a Super God of this country, a terror which no body can dare to challenge. So in Bhutto we saw the demogaugy in its worst, the demos becoming the demi-gods, degrading the country into `mulla gardi`. He met his retribution but never repented.

http://www.dawn.com/weekly/cowas/cowas.htm

DAWN, Karachi, Pakistan
25 April 2004 Sunday 04 Rabi-ul-Awwal 1425

Keeping the record straight
By Ardeshir Cowasjee

---

[From a letter sent to President Major-General Iskander Mirza by Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, in April 1958, from Geneva, where he was leading the Pakistan delegation to the United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea]

..... ``I would like to take this opportunity to reassure you of my imperishable and devoted loyalty to you. Exactly four months before the death of my late father, he had advised me to remain steadfastly loyal to you, as you were `not an individual but an institution`. For the greater good of my own country, I feel that your services to Pakistan are indispensable. When the history of our country is written by objective historians, your name will be placed even before that of Mr Jinnah. Sir, I say this because I mean it and not because you are the president of my country.`` .....

---

[Bhutto as prime minister in August 1976 to his foreign minister, Aziz Ahmed, his cabinet secretary and his army chief of staff]

``I will tell you how Ayub Khan became a field marshal. When he promoted Lt Gen. Mohammad Musa to the rank of general and made him commander-in-chief of the Pakistan Army, he told me in Nathiagali in 1959 that he was worried over the quarrel between General Musa and General Habibullah. He told me that he was worried about Habibullah`s intrigues and ambitions. He asked me for my advice on how to place himself head and shoulders above their squabbles. I told him that one way of doing it was to show complete impartiality, fairness and justice, and I made the other suggestion rather cynically. I told him that since it was essential for him to be head and shoulders above the others it would be better if he elevated his own rank from that of general to that of field marshal. He thought it to be a brilliant idea. He was simply overjoyed but as all his reflexes were influenced by monetary consideration, much to my surprise he said, `The idea is brilliant, it will create stability but we will have to persuade Mr Shoaib, the finance minister, to agree to the financial aspects of the proposal.` Of course, Mr Shoaib agreed. Ayub Khan became field marshal in October 1959. At that time I was leading the Pakistan delegation to the United Nations General Assembly in New York. The formalities were completed in my absence. The cabinet willingly agreed to the proposal. All members of the cabinet, except Moulvi Ibrahim, the then law minister, agreed. I was informed that Mr Manzoor Qadir tried to give the impression of not being wholly in agreement but that was only for the sake of showing his convenient integrity. After the decision was taken at Karachi, Ayub Khan told his military secretary to phone me in New York and to thank me for making such a sound suggestion. I am therefore the hero of Ayub Khan`s valorous battles. Of course, the object of this note is not to dismantle the man. Some of us can still refer to him with respect. I am only setting the record straight.``

---

Res Ras #18

[Re: 3 harimau; Did you know him personally?]

Is that necessary? Can one not judge a man by his actions?

Anyway, I am reminded of a famous debate between two British parliamentarians.

One said, ``Surely you will hang or die of a venereal disease``.

To which the other replied, ``That depends entirely on whether I embrace your principles or your mistress``.

After Bhutto`s hanging, aren`t you glad that Jinnah died of tubercuulosis rather than syphilis?

A bright, articulate and passionate man with great prospects who
could`ve used his immense god-given talents to serve Pakistan.

Unfortunately, he turned into a murdering maglomaniac and the
country, along with him, paid for it dearly. What a waste.

His daughter has inherited none of her father`s gifts and turned
out to be just a two-bit crook on the lamb.