Remembering Benazir Bhutto

BY Iram Khalid

IT has been over five years that Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto was plucked out from the midst of the people by the forces of darkness, tyranny and terror. The tragic event still defies belief as it then did on that dark night of December 2007. While the terrorists who perpetrated this crime may have succeeded in brutally cutting her life short, her shadow looms large over the country and with the passage of time her personality now treads like a colossus. The light that she ignited with her blood has refused to extinguish and continues to glow the path for others. Benazir Bhutto began her political career fighting one dictator and ended it fighting another. She was an extremely courageous lady and devoted her life to the cause of democracy in Pakistan. Like her illustrious father, she had developed an inseparable bond with the downtrodden people of Pakistan particularly the better but oppressed half of the populace. Though she trotted the globe interacting with world leaders, nothing exhilarated her more than the company of her own compatriots especially the women with whom she had developed an inseparable bond. She was always at ease while sympathizing with the poor and the weak. She drew her strength from the oppressed and gave them hope and inspiration. After her eventful life, no public office remains too high for women of Pakistan. While many advanced democracies have yet to elect a female head of state or government, the privilege and honour of having first elected Prime Minister in Muslim world irreversibly belongs to Pakistan. She was a role model for women all over the world but in particular for millions of women who have been treated as chattels by ignorant and obscurantist men around them. Tragically this epitaph befits large number of women in our country. While the forces of darkness and terror continue to bomb and burn schools in order to stop girls from seeking education and vistas for decent life, Pakistani women have shown unmatchable resilience and courage in confronting this menace. There are hundreds of thousands of Malallas scattered all over our villages and mountains. They are the torch bearers of light ignited by Benazir Bhutto with her blood. While these obscurantist forces and their political interlocutors want to drag Pakistan into the darker and primitive ages, they will not succeed. They may terrorize the people, they may kill or maim them but they cannot win the hearts and minds of the people. They are not the future of this country. They are the last remnants of bigotry which has no place in Pakistan or indeed any part of the world. Nothing good comes without sacrifice and struggle. Millions of Pakistani women are part of this ongoing struggle. Every day millions of women step out of their homes with courage and dignity to redeem their rightful place in society. From Assemblies to higher echelons of public service, businesses and professions, villages and fields, factories and small cottages, the womenfolk are endeavouring to earn their living with dignity and help their families. They are flying F-16s as well as Boeings. Our brave young daughters are going to schools with the courage and valour of soldiers going to war. Those who stay home work all day to keep it going. All this is being done by these courageous women in the face of huge odds ranging from bombs to bullets, from paternalistic and condescending comments to indecent and hungry gaze from the ignorant chauvinists. Yet they refuse to surrender or give. While there is so much more to be done and the journey of liberation for women of Pakistan is long and full of pitfalls and will be painful but the future is bright and there is no going back to the primitive and darker ages. Our womenfolk will never be chattels again. For all this progress, the women of Pakistan are indebted to Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto Shaheed. She led the path and lived a remarkable life. She was a role model for millions of women all over the world. Her iconic personality shall continue to glow and inspire womenfolk for all times to come. We therefore cherish her short but meaningful life. We may not see the like of her again. She lived and died with a courage and grandeur befitting her extraordinary life. When she was fatally shot she uttered no famous last words but as Paul Johnson said of Lincoln, ‘After such a life who needs last words’. The author is a Member of Sindh Assembly from Pakistan Peoples Party