If Bhutto was alive, the dreams fulfilled

By Ghazal Khubaib
Strangling of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto (ZAB) on April 4, 1979, also strangled the hopes and aspirations of millions of Pakistanis and if Pakistan was poor and unstable when Bhutto grabbed power, it is yet poorer and more unstable after 32 years of his execution.Fact is that ZAB held the reins of the country under tough circumstances,but successive regimes could not consolidated the gains earned in his tenure.Bhutto put together a uniquely popular movement (Pakistan Peoples Party),one which thirty two years after his martyrdom remains Pakistan’s most vital political force.The personal and moral character of late Prime Minister, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto was exceptional. He was distinguished by unwearied perseverance, the steady purpose and the magnanimous soul which are essential to glorious achievements.Bhutto was provident in council and vigorous in execution and possessed personal intrepidity in the highest degree.
Zulfikar Ali Bhutto emerged as phenomenon on the political horizon.His speeches in United Nations had challenged India to fight for a thousand years; his reaction to Tashkent Agreement and the spirited public speeches had won admiration and with his exit from Ayub’s cabinet he emerged as saviour for millions of Pakistanis.
He bestowed upon people the courage to raise questions and hold oligarchy responsible if it go astray.
Bhutto perhaps most closely resembles Jamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt, the man who dominated Middle East politics in the decades of fifties.
The country is beset with multitude of problems these days. The country saw unprecedented wave of terrorism and extremism due to the follies of the past, had Bhutto been alive today he would have nurtured an environment of tolerance, moderation and co-existence.
Bhutto enjoyed rare qualities of moral courage and fearless determination. The visionary Button laid foundation of the country’s atomic programme which officially culminated in 1998 when Pakistan opted to go nuclear in a tit-for-tat response against Indian nuclear detonation.
In the aftermath of Dhaka debacle, nation’s moral was at its lowest ebb. Bhutto’s sagacity gathered leaders of entire Muslim Ummah at Lahore under umbrella of Islamic Summit. Merely one year after such massive debacle, it had been a captivating sight witnessing the leaders of Islamic world gathering in Lahore expressing solidarity with Pakistani nation thus conveying a message of solidarity with Pakistan.
Bhutto’s achievements are by no means ordinary. The foundation stone of vital and gigantic project of Pakistan Steel Mills was laid on 30 December 1973 by Zulfikar Ali Bhutto.
When country felt that a facility to maintain and rebuild the tanks was needed, the Heavy Rebuild Foundry Project was conceived, with Chinese assistance and technology.
In the late, 1970s the Heavy Rebuild Factory (HRF) was established in Taxila to undertake rebuild and modernization.
After he had been overthrown by a military coup in July 1977, his friends advised him to contact foreign friends and secure a timely release in order to escape the wrath of military establishment but Bhutto preferred to remain in the country and remove stigma on his personality in an infamous case whose verdict against him had already been decided.
Condemned to death, he could have asked for grace from General Zia, but he refused to bow before a military dictator and even restrained his family members to utilize the appeal procedure.
In fact Ali Bhutto wished his blood to be, in his own words, “manure to the young men and women of this subcontinent”. His guts to embrace the reality of death was by no means resignation to life, but his firm conviction in the future.
In his exemplary death, Bhutto succeeded, to nurture values whose implementation he thought indispensable for the prosperity of Pakistan but which were over looked in the multiplicity of other circumstances.