The question doing the rounds is what will happen to the Pakistan People's Party after the sudden disappearance of Benazir Bhutto from the scene, writes, S.G. Jilanee
In a recent interview to the Telegraph, London, Sanam Bhutto disclosed that Benazir knew she would be killed. Therefore, she wrote a 17-page ‘Will’ sometime ago, and showed it to her. But perhaps she was saying this as further evidence that her sister was so ‘courageous,’ she did not care if she was killed as well as to certify the authenticity of the ‘Will.’
However, whether it was ‘courage’ or sheer recklessness to pop out of a bulletproof car, to wave to the cheering crowd, is now a moot point. What matters is the future of the Pakistan People’s Party.
Sanam saw the ‘Will.’ But its contents she did not let on. Obviously it was the same document, the relevant part of which Bilawal read out before the Party executives at Naudero, where Benazir bequeathed the People’s Party to her husband. And the husband sensing that it would be risqué for a Zardari to jump into the Bhutto saddle at once, cleverly passed the sceptre to his son “To Bhutto, political power was something one could inherit, something to be passed along from spouse to spouse and from parent to child, like grandmother's pearls or grandfather's favourite chair,” as Rosa Brooks said in the Los Angeles Times.
Others drew a parallel with Julius Caesar’s Will. He too was ambitious for power like Ms Bhutto. He wanted to be emperor; she prime minister. But Mark Antony held Caesar’s will out before the public for inspection, while Benazir’s will was held back from the media. And, above all, while Caesar left all his property for his people, Benazir did not spare even a penny for the bereaved families of the jiayalas who sacrificed their lives for her.
Nevertheless, Asif Ali Zardari is now the ‘regent,’ acting as co-chairman until the ‘prince’ (Bilawal) comes of age. That means at least six, long, years for he is only 19. What changes will take place during this interlude is difficult for any pundit to predict.
At present, though, Zardari is busy lobbying relevant quarters in the United States to mount pressure on Pervez Musharraf for an investigation by the UN into his wife’s assassination and appealing directly to the UN to take some action.
He divides his time between Karachi and Naudero. From Karachi he oversees the party’s election machine and issues political statements. At Naudero he receives homage and pledges of allegiance from delegations such as CPNE, intellectuals and writers and so forth.
But he carefully avoids directly addressing public meetings for he fears that despite being nominated by Benazir as her heir and successor, the people would not give the same ovation to ‘Mr. ten per cent’ as they gave her. For the same reason he has even declared that in the event of the PPP winning the election and being invited to form the government he would nominate Amin Fahim as prime minister.
As Ardeshir Cowasjee observes, “The diehard Pipians are enamoured by (sic) their world famous, self-acclaimed notoriously corrupt leader who has thrust himself upon them. The newfound turncoats and lads have seen the light and have distanced themselves.”
To win Punjabi hearts Zardari is reportedly planning to move the Party headquarters to Lahore. But such a move is likely to alienate the Sindhi supporters. Meanwhile he was quoted as telling a meeting of party workers at Lahore the other day that he would become a ‘shaheed’ and join his father-in-law and his wife at Garhi Khuda Bakhsh graveyard. The choice of the Bhutto graveyard for his burial instead of his own ancestral cemetery in Nawabshah was obviously a desperate ploy to demonstrate to the party rank and file that he has morphed into a Bhutto from a Zardari.
But the sobriquet clings to him like an albatross. Benazir was different. First, she had the advantage of deniability, as most of the properties and offshore companies stand in Zardari’s name and a $2 million manor in Normandy is registered in the name of his parents.
Second, as a talented debater, she could deftly parry any question about the allegations of corruption against her from her many interviewers. As Jason Burke says in her obituary in the Observer, London, “I had met Bhutto more than a decade before, in 1997, when she batted away my questions about her alleged corruption.”
Similarly, when Gail Sheehan interviewing her for the Parade Magazine in November, asked Benazir about the allegation of siphoning funds from the U.N. Oil for Food program, her defence was: “Six other companies in Pakistan did it. Nobody investigated them.”
Sheehan goes on to say: “Bhutto still insists that there are no foreign bank accounts in her name. I suggest that most are in the names of her mother or of friends. She feigns surprise—what could others’ finances have to do with her? ‘I’m an independent legal entity!’ she protests. ‘What’s the difference between you and me?’
Zardari cannot handle his interlocutors in this fashion. Besides, he is also facing opposition from Mumtaz Bhutto the ‘sardar’ of the Bhutto clan, and a cousin of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. Then there is Fatima Bhutto, a direct descendant of Zulfikar Bhutto from his son Murtaza’s side. She is 25 and is already drawing limelight as a newspaper columnist and a writer. Lately she has visited Lyari, the bastion of Bhutto loyalists several times, without any fanfare and won the hearts of the people by mixing with them freely.
Even otherwise not only Zardari’s capability, to keep the Party united until Bilawal takes charge, is questionable but even Bilawal’s capacity to lead is doubtful. For he is nowhere near his mother. At his age, Benazir had been exposed to many diplomats of international fame and accompanied her father to the most critical diplomatic summit with Indira Gandhi at Shimla in 1972.
Benazir had also some other advantages. She was a young helpless ‘girl,’ who had been orphaned and persecuted. Even her father’s execution was perceived as the result of Ziaul Haq’s vendetta. And above all she had the gift of the most lethal weapon exclusive to women, -tears. It was her tears that tore all feeling hearts and ensured her a sustained tide of sympathy and support that washed away all her sins (and crimes) in the eyes of the people.
Bilawal lacks all these props. Benazir’s assassination though tragic, yet it lacks the poignancy associated with her father’s execution. Bilawal has been orphaned but not by any tyrant. He is not being oppressed. And he cannot weep!
When Zulfikar Bhutto was executed Benazir was in a position to readily exploit the groundswell of public sympathy. But by the time Bilawal is ready to be ’enthroned’ the surge of sympathy that had welled up after Benazir’s murder will have subsided.
Moreover, adding Bhutto name to Bilawal’s has raised questions whether the PPP must wear the Bhutto collar for its existence. Fatima Bhutto has quite strong feelings on this practice. She told the Times newspaper in London that, “The idea that it has to be a Bhutto, I think, is a dangerous one. It doesn't benefit Pakistan” adding, "It doesn't benefit a party that's supposed to be run on democratic lines and it doesn't benefit us as citizens if we think only about personalities and not about platforms."
She denounced the PPP as "desperate to cash in on her (Benazir's) blood," saying, "It's become in a sense the family business, like an antique shop where it's just 'So and So and Sons,' and then grandsons and great grandsons. It just gets handed down." As for herself, she might be interested in a career in politics, but she would not be "a symbol" for anyone," she said.
However, the situation within the party will crystallize after the elections. The trauma of Benazir’s sudden death having subsided, people would take stock of the situation realistically. They will watch Zardari’s performance with a critical eye.
The writing on the wall, however, seems to indicate the end of the era of Bhutto fiefdom over the PPP. As time passes new aspirants may arise, who will claim their title to lead o their leadership qualities rather than the Bhutto name. The party that Zulfikar Ali Bhutto had laid is, in any case, over.
|
Show/hide comments
Show/hide comment form
