Be not afraid of greatness: some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them.
Benazir Bhutto certainly belonged to the third category. She was elected as PPP chairperson at the age of 25 after her father was executed by Zia-ul-Haq in 1979 with the kind permission of Washington. She soon became the first elected Muslim woman prime minister. Her two stints as prime minster were utterly corrupt, became unpopular and were aborted by the intervetion of president and the army. During her rule, she and her husband Asif Ali Zardari, another feudal lord from Sindh, created new records of corruption and amassed huge wealth. She still has four cases pending against her in different European courts. These cases are in addition to the ones that were dropped by Musharraf again on behest of US. Zardari got her brother, Murtaza Bhutto killed in a police encounter, when she was in power. She obviously never took any action. But Zardari spent 8 years in prison as convict, after her government was dismissed by President Leghari (a PPP veteran) on the charges of corruption and misuse of power. After striking a deal with US and Musharraf she returned to Pakistan to again capture power and loot public money in the name of democracy. Yes, she was moderate and was against Islamic extremism, but never took any concrete steps to curb it. She was too busy in earning money. She was a charismatic leader and was not afraid at all of the greatness that was thrust upon her due to her maiden name Bhutto. In fact, she misused the name of her father to the fullest and discarded his socialist agenda. Made promises and delivered nothing. After her sad demise, her 19 years old son Bilawal has been crowned PPP chairperson to continue the legacy of the Bhutto 'royal' family in the name of democracy.
What an irony, all the women and young leaders that the democracies in south Asia have produced are result of the dynasty politics and the feudal mindset of the public at large!
February 21, 2008 at 4:46 AM
Why such negetivity against Benazir Bhutto!?...she never misused her fathers name!...imagine will u do that?..and for what? money?...whoever came into government ate money!...whats musharraf doing?...what did zia ul haq did?...and what does OUR DAMNED nation does to the people who want pakistan to survive even when its on its last breath?...gets them hanged? or blast them off?...and the biggest truth..how did muhammad ali jinnah died?...in an ambulance..what was our nation doing then?...and what difference did it make!...simply NOTHING..and then there are people like u!...who play the blame game...i must say people like u have some nerve to say all these things!!....i was not any party's supporter..nor i am now...i actually hate politics....but even i felt bad when benazir bhutto was assasinated!....and what did our government do?...no investigations nothing?...do u think some other country will have any interest to investigate properly?...and if they were then why dint our government gave them permission to fully investigate?....i cant blame musharaff for the assasination cause there arnt any evidence to proove it...but i sure will be against him if any are proved...to cut this whole thing short, i believe our nation never had and never will have faith in people who can make a difference in our county but they will always stand up to bad mouth benazir bhutto and the like.
kindly leave someone in peace when they are dead. even Islam doesnt approve it.
February 21, 2008 at 5:55 PM
That was an interesting expression of your rage and frustration. Here is my take on it.
{Why such negetivity against Benazir Bhutto!?...}
I don't have anything personal against her or PPP. Its just I was trying to analyze her contribution to Pakistan at large and thats what I came up with. I must admit that I am particularly harsh while judging people who occupy(ed) public posts.
{she never misused her fathers name!...}
I think she did! My assessment is that she was genuinely fighting against Zia for what she thought was her father's vision. But as has happened with most noble political movements, she lost track somewhere in between when she got power. Power corrupts!
{imagine will u do that?..}
Me and you wont do many things that politicians do and BB did. e.g I wont let my spouse kill my brother just to satisfy his/her ego.
{and for what? money?...}
She did it primarily for 'power'!
{whoever came into government ate money!...whats musharraf doing?...what did zia ul haq did?}
Does that justify corruption by BB or anyone else? Does that mean anyone can do any evil deed just because someone else did something wrong?
{...and what does OUR DAMNED nation does to the people who want pakistan to survive even when its on its last breath?...gets them hanged? or blast them off?...and the biggest truth..how did muhammad ali jinnah died?...in an ambulance..what was our nation doing then?...and what difference did it make!...simply NOTHING..and then there are people like u!...who play the blame game...i must say people like u have some nerve to say all these things!!....}
I will have to agree with you on this point. This actually shows the frustration of pakistan's society at large to the kinda of politics thats being played over the year and more importantly the apathy in some cases and extremely negative attitude in most cases of the public at large towards the national issues. criticism for the sake of it doesn't solve anything. I myself think that criticism should be positive and constructive. In case of this particular piece of writing I sadly couldn't do that because I was analyzing past! But point well taken.
{i was not any party's supporter..nor i am now...i actually hate politics....but even i felt bad when benazir bhutto was assasinated!....}
I even I felt bad. Its only human if you feel bad coz a fellow human being was brutally murdered just because she didn't agreed with the murders point of view. But that does not precludes me from expressing my feelings about the deceased person.
{to cut this whole thing short, i believe our nation never had and never will have faith in people who can make a difference in our county but they will always stand up to bad mouth benazir bhutto and the like.}
I prefer to call it criticism instead of bad mouthing! That I think is essential for any society to function effectively. BTW what differences are you talking about in case of Benazir? And can I really have faith in people who really rose just because they belonged to certain family and did nothing fruitful in their life time except talking and then breaking those promises when in power to fulfill their own vested interests.
{kindly leave someone in peace when they are dead.}
I cant coz its my right and responsibility to let the world know what I think is right or wrong. Should i not criticize Hitler simply because he is dead?
{even Islam doesnt approve it.}
And I thought its obligatory for every Muslim to say the truth and call spade a spade (even if spade is resting in the grave).
February 27, 2008 at 11:33 AM
i dont think that more than 2 or 3 lines in the passage given as introductory to MOHTARMA BENAZIR BHUTTO are true. money......misusing her father's money...american cases.......all this is rubbish.
now i tell you what a great lady she was. when NAWAZ SHAREEF'S govt was abolished by musharraf and he was sent to jail his wife requested aitazaz ahsan(very famous lawyer in pakistan +ppp supporter) to take his case. when he asked BENAZIR SAHIBA she said she would tell him after asking her party members though all members rejected this appeal but she said aitazaz to take his case. this is greatness she is the one who is praised even by her rivals before and after death.
she had to be eliminated coz she could not do all THAT busharraf or CH. SHUJAAT HUSSAIN can do. HIMALAYA wept for her father but i can surely say that world weeps for her. she is in Heaven coz she was not an ordinary human being but a blessed one. WE WILL ALWAYS MISS U BB U LIVE IN THE HEARTS OF PAKISTANIS AND YR LOVERS THROUGHOUT RTHE WORLD.
February 27, 2008 at 11:47 AM
{i dont think that more than 2 or 3 lines in the passage given as introductory to MOHTARMA BENAZIR BHUTTO are true. money......misusing her father's money...american cases.......all this is rubbish.}
All I have stated can be backed up by proofs. We simply cant dismiss it just by saying that it is all rubbish.
{WE WILL ALWAYS MISS U BB U LIVE IN THE HEARTS OF PAKISTANIS AND YR LOVERS THROUGHOUT RTHE WORLD.}
Are you from Sindh and/or larkana? Well we should agree to disagree on this matter as you seem to be a die hard Bhutto fan and I am a self-styled independent political analyst. Anyways, thanx for enriching the post by providing your thoughts on the issue.
March 2, 2008 at 11:07 PM
I am not a PPP supporter, And i am not ignoring the corruption charges Mohtarma BB had. But their is no doubt in my mind that she was a great leader. Corruption, and accusation of corruption are but part and parcel of Politics, doesnt mean that its acceptable. But Benazir was a visionary, her vision was clouded by the corruption around her.
March 3, 2008 at 12:19 AM
Hussain,
I agree with you that BB was a great leader, one of the finest statesman Pakistan has produced. A politician with a big heart and tremendous courage. I am not sure about her vision. It would help me a lot if you could elaborate on what exactly are you referring to?
Thanks for the comments anyways.
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