The Last Moments of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto

such were the morals that the great leader imparted to his daughter that her only rivals in ill begotten wealth are the generals of nigeria and the marcos and suharto families. she has the unique distinction along with hitler and mao of being ``elected`` head of the party for life.

The great democrat was also the chief martial law administrator and had a more effective muzzle on the opposition than any dictator. a rigger of elections he was deposed in a coup, after street rioting broke out in protest, by the man he made chief by superseding half a dozen senior generals.

this champion of islam and the chief of the OIC was also the biggest fornicator and drinker, with pimps like wife beater Khar for procurement.

this great champion of the poor was also one of the largest land owners/feudals of pakistan, compare this with Nehru who donated almost all his fathers property to the Congress and the nation (all of which was earned by Motilal`s own sweat). In this offcourse he was following the lead of the other great leader the Quaid, who Nehru forewarned that feudalism and regressive tendencies being greater in muslims they would loose out by forming a seperate country and by cutting them off from the more educated and progressive trends in india.

it was in the steps of this second great leader that Nawaz Sharif was following when he muzzled the judiciary, the press, the opposition and then fired army chiefs at will imposing the junior most army commander as chief. even then he wasnt satisfied!! so the protege repayed in the same coin as the previous Military usurper. prior to the Nawaz had in time worn pakistani fashion allready poccketed a few billion dollars for his retirement expenses, luckily for him he hadnt passed any liquidation orders on political rivals, else........


after zia and until chaghai almost every pakistani ex-president, ex-prime minister, even ex-isi chiefs and ex- ministers had been openly flouting the nations nuclear secrets (claiming there major role in the project) , detailing the country`s involvement in insurgencies (while in bibi`s and mian`s case absolving themselves of all responsibility and putting it all on the army). compare this with India where til today the details are not known and before the blasts almosty nothing was revealed by either the scientists, the mandarins or the politicos. Heck even the CIA was in the dark as regards india (this after they had exploded their first device way back in 74)

no wonder this nation is in such a decrepit state they have such great leaders and degenerate upperclasses to look upto.

ZAB was a great leader and like any normal human he had his faults but the way he was
dealt with was disgusting. A great man--the only one really since the Qaid which pakistan has had.

He would have made pakistan great if he had lived 10 more years...

``The authorities wanted to confirm whether Mr. Bhutto had been circumcised in Islamic manner or not. After the photographs were taken, it was confirmed that he was circumcised in the Islamic way``
So even after killing him the authorities were looking for ways to violate his dignity.

rightly said by mantolives, Bhutto case can not be used as a precedent. however, now we see examples of such decisions every now and then. judiciary in Pakistan is working as a government`s tool to validate its ill doings. the most corrupt judges are promoted and those who take a stance are compelled to resign/ take fresh oaths.

Astaghfirullah, may God bless our nation.. Amen.

as far as the Ahmadi issue is concerned, Bhutto was surely under influence… otherwise he wouldn`t have done any such thing... weekness of the great leaders..isn`t it?

a moving story of the death of the only leader Pakistan has had after Qauid-e-Azam.

Many years ago,I read a punjabi novel``Bandiwaan`` written by Fakhar Zamaan.It is about Bhutto,s days in prison and the torture-physical and mental; he received.Though Fakhar Zamaan is a well known author,but the eye-witness account given by Col. Rafi is very moving but sadly,even this has not been able to mobilize people to save their right to choose their government.Though people formed their governments later,but everytime the democracy was publically raped by the military and that is bigger tragedy compared to execution of Mr.Bhutto.

Re: # 4

The flaws you point at are genuine and right. The debate about Bhutto has gone on ... and I am frankly not interested in pro-Bhutto anti-Bhutto posing...

However one thing all lawyers and judges I know of are convinced about is that the trial was a mockery of justice... did you know that you can`t cite the Bhutto case as a precedent in courts... or if you cite it its not persuasive...

About Ahmadis... indeed that was the greatest tragedy... for Pakistan`s most ardent patriots to be hounded the way they were...

Quite unfortunate for the people of Pakistan to lose such a leader..

I wonder what the condition of late zia ul haq was at that time. Bhutto was pale and couldn’t walk (as per col. rafi) and I’m sure zia’s condition would have been even worse.

If my memory serves me right he was convicted for having signed an order to ``Liquidate`` Nawab Mohd. Khan. and probably this was not the only individual he got liquidated.

And when he said ``Yahya is responsible for my hanging`` for a mopment I thought it was general yahya Khan who was taking his revenge for this vile man having misled him and egged him on for a confrontation with Mujib and India. Just like he misled Ayub in 65, he knew well that these stupid fools would self destruct and Mujib would be out of the way, leaving the way open for him.

He was always a demagogue talking of ``a thousand years of war`` etc. when the costs would be borne by others or when it would help make him popular, (political responsibility to hell with). While cunningly being the first to sue for peace when the tide turned.

How this man who declared Ahmediyas as non muslims is a great leader or chheered on his own countries self destruction beats me.

Instead of feling sympathy at his weakest moment, it would be wise to evluate the man on his actions in his strongest moments. its like feeling sorry for Advani or Modi before their executions and calling them great leaders.

Although it’s a very truly moving account of an individual’s last moments (it melted my heart for sure, especially the part about feigning sleep to prolong the inevitable) (and even though I did not have a very favorable opinion of the late Mr. Bhutto as a politician) – all an article like it can essentially accomplish is to highlight the frailty of a human being – the fear of impending death, and all that it brings along, including eventually a sense of resignation. Although this article may have some cathartic value for the original writer as an individual – I see little gain in putting it up for public consumption, since the pain and anguish to the immediate family member would be considerable! I hope the original writer ran it by those family members first!! If not, I feel very sorry for them. All that these family members had left was a shred of dignity (even illusionary) that Mr. Bhutto did not cower till the end, that he faced death stoically – now that’s also taken away!! Shame!!

Needless to say, I feel VERY outraged by how the moronic bureaucracy and army-cracy so callously goes about hanging a duly elected civilian leader. The passivity of the sub continental population is mind-boggling! Metallic automatons would be a vast improvement over those pathetic excuses for low-life creatures! People like Rafi were also a useless pawn in that lousy game. I know he was just one individual, but the machinery is only made from a whole bunch of little individuals like him! Such people are cursed to live with their haunting memories, and they know it!

I feel sorry for Col. Rafi and others like him!

With all his faults and flaws... he was a great man and a brave man. It is Pakistan`s misfortune that he was murdered through a judicially motivated trial.

Ignominious people meet an ignominious end.They should serve as a lesson for those who follow, but they rarely do.