Bhutto Still Lives As Guiding Spirit

Bhutto Still Lives As Guiding Spirit
(Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani, Prime Minister of Pakistan)
The holy Quran ordains that martyrs never die. Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, thus, lives through the annals of history, through his deeds and through his political philosophy and still refreshes our minds like the morning breeze three decades after he was put to gallows. The courage he demonstrated and initiatives he took in the late 1960s and early 1970s in convulsing the roots and demolishing the cliché ridden hackneyed system that was based on the exploitation of a whole of the people by a handful of men, led him to emerge as the most towering political person of the recent history. When he founded the Pakistan People’s Party in November 1967, the people who believed that the exploitative system must be overhauled by way of drastic changes enlisted their support to the party which promised a moderate, modern and progressive Pakistan, socio-economic justice and an egalitarian society. The emergence of the PPP ensued a huge fellowship to the revolutionary thought and an unprecedented trail of uncompromising followers; this was the phenomenal rise of a new breed of political workers, drawn from all walks of life and shades of opinion. This was a major political movement in the country’s history and has not only continued to sustain despite conspiracies, repression let loose by the subsequent dictatorial regime and odds but also has grown manifold because the new party had symbolized itself with unparalleled sacrifices and untold sufferings for a greater cause. Even today Shaheed Bhutto and his revolutionary programme is a major reference to the notion of commitment to pro-people ideals. On the other hand, the people who opposed him and his political thought find themselves in a disarray and sheer political confusion. This augurs well as all such qualms are giving in to the potential of the PPP’s agenda and the political insight of its founding chairperson; the darkness is undoubtedly giving way to the light of the day.

The people of Pakistan are lucky in the sense that they witnessed with contentment that Shaheed Bhutto’s illustrious daughter, Shaheed Benazir Bhutto, picked up the political thread where the great leader had left it. She showed the same exemplary courage and commitment in advancing the political legacy of Shaheed Bhutto. She took the torch of democracy and justice in her hands and started venturing to achieve the dream of her illustrious father to empower the most exploited people. She also embraced martyrdom while in struggle to defeat dictatorship. The great mission of Shaheed Bhutto is now the obligation of the PPP leadership and its workers. The PPP leadership will now continue to promote the movement of Shaheed Bhutto in the awakening of the people for their inviolable rights and the strategy of political conciliation as pursued by Shaheed Benazir Bhutto. We will advance this challenging task not only in Pakistan but in the south Asian region and on a wider spectrum across the world.

I personally feel proud of sitting on the chair which Shaheed Bhutto and Shaheed Benazir Bhutto occupied to serve the people and took historic decisions and steps in promoting the image of Pakistan as a democratic nation. I think I am only a custodian of a great trust which Almighty Allah, the people and the party have bestowed upon me; this is a sacred duty which I am trying to discharge with the best of my abilities and commitment to the party and the people who expect that our party makes the difference that would redress their grievances and makes them feel part of a proud nation.

It is heartening that historians, political analysts and commentators attach the maximum importance to the era when our party’s founding father was leading the turmoil-ridden country; they pay heavy tributes to Shaheed Bhutto for his political vision, charismatic personality, statesmanship, quick understanding of issues and foresight and describe that period as the most meaningful time of our history. The unanimous constitution adopted in 1973 was a task which only Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto could accomplish and the world witnessed this event with a keen interest. The making of the constitution was one of the happiest and most important event and a great political step forward in our history. Constitutions were also enforced in 1956 and 1962 but they died their logical death because they neither enjoyed popular support nor were debated in parliament and even the opinion of provincial leadership was not sought. On the contrary, the 1973 Constitution was a passion for Shaheed Bhutto; its drafting and approval by parliament was the result of his patriotic feelings, commitment to the people, enlightened thought and deep sincerity. For this he took personal pains by holding negotiations with the national and provincial political leadership, convincing them about the importance of having the basic law for a country which had long been without a constitution. The 1973 Constitution has proved to be a strong social contract and even survived autocratic aberrations. Although the constitution was amended drastically, held in abeyance and its implementation was suspended partially or as a whole, it has an inherent strength that no despotic ruler has been able to weaken it.

Supremacy of parliament was another political and democratic area which was very close to Shaheed Bhutto’s heart. He made no compromises on his commitment to the state institutions and the preeminence of parliament was his paramount concern. Shaheed Bhutto never ignored parliament as he thought his political strength laid in taking it into confidence. Shaheed Bhutto also held the armed forces in deep respect and wanted the Pakistan army to become the best professional army in the world.

Every page of our history and every inch of our homeland bears a deep and illuminating impact of Shaheed Bhutto’s person and the revolutionary message and dynamic political ideology he gave while launching his own political organization. He made all Pakistanis to love their homeland, created an awareness of their inviolable rights and made the people to feel that they had a self-respect which no-one should infringe upon. He went to meet the people in areas where no-one had gone earlier.

Shaheed Bhutto founded the Pakistan People’s Party in a period when media was forced to pursue a dictated policy and was not allowed to navigate on any unconventional path. This was a time when impartial TV channels were not permitted and the Pakistan Television, under the instructions of the government, was not allowed to cover independent events. Even the newspapers more or less ignored the launching of the PPP. They reported big PPP rallies by publishing single-column news items. But Shaheed Bhutto knew the art of mobilizing the public opinion; he intensified his political campaign and made it so effective as to build a strong movement of public awareness that directly reached the masses. His objective was clear and his voice loud; he advanced his campaign like a crusader who had complete faith in the power of the people. He had cherished a desire to take the country and the people to new heights of progress and prosperity. His contact with the people was direct and consummate; and this bond with them was pretty strong. He lived and still lives in the hearts of the people and this relationship grew out of his commitment to ameliorate their lot. The people responded in the same way and within three years of the PPP’s establishment, they voted for the political outfit, still very young in age but strong in perceptions and its programme, to emerge as the majority party in areas now forming Pakistan.

Shaheed Bhutto established a stable democracy, strengthened state institutions and brought basic changes in the dispensation of socio-economic justice. Because of his ability to foresee the future and in view of the looming dangers in south Asia, Shaheed Bhutto ventured to transform the country’s defence undefeatable and decided that Pakistan must acquire nuclear technology not only to defend the country from external threats but also for speedy development in all spheres of public life. This also means that Shaheed Bhutto had rightly felt that Pakistan was capable of providing a lead to the Muslim Ummah in the circumstances that were distressing and that made all Muslims feel concerned about their future.

Within the country, the government of Shaheed Bhutto started a massive programme of the development of infrastructure and helped provinces in the task with a mind that the federation should get strengthened as envisioned by the 1973 Constitution. Shaheed Bhutto introduced far reaching reforms in all spheres of public activity.

Who can forget the Second Islamic Summit Conference which was held in February 1974. This proved to be such a representative conference of the Islamic world as was not witnessed before. The decisions of this conference were also far reaching for the Muslim world. No-one can also forget that Shaheed Bhutto emerged as an unparalleled leader and the conference unanimously voted him as the chairman of the Muslim bloc. It may also be interesting to note that Shaheed Bhutto was the first leader who ventured to introduce socio-economic development in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) for the first time so that this underdeveloped but fertile territory was brought at par with other areas of the country. The dream he saw was the welfare of the down-trodden people who lived in these backward but most splendid valleys which have no parallel in their scenic beauty the world over.

We, the followers of epoch-making Shaheed Bhutto, are now trying hard to restore peace in these areas and resume their development as envisioned by our great leader. We strongly feel that the best tributes we can pay to our leader on his 30th death anniversary is that we transform Pakistan into a moderate, modern and progressive society which was the hallmark of the Shaheed’s period and which served as a source of inspiration for the Muslim world and the Third World alike. We feel from the depth of our heart that the repressive and oppressive dictatorial regime which followed the enlightened period of Shaheed Bhutto led the country to nose-dive into the sheer darkness of extremism and terrorism. We feel that this trend is highly dangerous for the national fabric and poses potential threat to the culture of moderation and progressive thought. But we also feel strong that we are the custodians of the enlightened political thought of Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto and we can combat such dangers with all power at our command. Today we hold out a solemn pledge to the founding father of our party and the people on behalf of our government and in my own personal capacity that we can combat the trends of extremism, reactionary thought and sectarianism with the help of political ideology of Shaheed Bhutto by taking such practical steps as to ensure the restoration of peace and progress in the country. We also pledge that we will transform our society and create an atmosphere as was envisioned by the Quaid-i-Azam and the Quaid-i-Awam.

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