This article aims to highlight the political life of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and shun discussing his personal career. The sole reason for this is that the world identifies him as a politician as well as a noble statesman.
Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, commonly known as Bhutto, was a Pakistani Politician, who formed his own party, the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) in 1967 and contested the 1970 elections. His party experienced a considerable triumph in it and later he took charge as the Prime Minister of Pakistan.
At that time, the maiden compromise, with respect to elections, amid the two wings of Pakistan, had taken place and the East wing had been a part of the electoral process. The West wing, from where the whole of Pakistan was ruled, had first time agreed to allocate a major proportion of the seats to the other wing.
Mujeeb-ur-Rehman, who was the Head of Awami League, the chief party which contested elections from the East wing, presented such a magical six points, that the people of the eastern wing, who felt that they have been treated as underdogs since Pakistan’s creation, created history and helped Awami League win a mammoth triumph, with 160 of 162 seats in hand. This proved to be jaw-dropping for the entire of Pakistan, as now this unanticipated victory could bring the whole of Pakistan, under Mujeeb’s rule.
The West Pakistanis, who loathed the foremost aftermath of the unprecedented event, toiled as to evade being ruled by the so-called incompetent Bengalis and preferred the dissection of Pakistan. It would be prejudicial to blame the entire west Pakistan for the division, but some leaders therein, who presided the catastrophe, stand guilty of the crime. Yahya Khan and Ayub Khan were responsible. The former was the president during the breakup and the latter is mentioned in the book of Justice Munir Ahmad, “From Jinnah To Zia”, stating that, ‘When I joined Ayub’s cabinet for a short time, I found that no constructive work was being done by the assembly. Every day was spent in listening to the long speeches of East Pakistan, members of the exploitation of East Pakistan and the step-motherly treatment of that province. Ayub used to listen to these speeches on the radio and was bored with what was happening as none of the ministers or members of Assembly, whether from East Pakistan or West Pakistan, rose to rebut these allegations. I spoke to Ayub and suggested that there could be no fusion between the two provinces and asked him whether it would not be better that instead of putting up this nonsense, to ask East Pakistan to take their affairs in their own hands. He suggested to m that I should talk about it ti some influential leader in East Pakistan.One day, I was talking to Mr. Ramizuddin who had been a minister of Bengal or East Pakistan, I broached the matter to him. His reply was prompt and straight. He asked me whether I was suggesting secession. I said yes or something like it as a confederation or more autonomy. He said, “look, here we are the majority province and it is for the minority province to secede because we are Pakistan”’
It would seem bewildering that the mention of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto has been skipped here, but indeed the truth is rare. It is no greater than an allegation against him, as during the fall of Dhaka, the final decision taker was Yahya Khan, not Bhutto and Ayub Khan’s statement in his tome confirms that it was a pre-planned conspiracy and therefore inevitable. It is the so called biased historians who declare Bhutto’s involvement in the separation of East Pakistan, not the history.
After the gruesome sights of the 1971 tussle and the division of Pakistan, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto took hold of the new Pakistan, as its President and Chief Martial Law Administrator as at that time there was no constitution or provisions of law for transfer of power to the elected representatives.
The country was at its rock-bottom, following the dumbfounding rout in the 1971 battle. The army had lost its morale and its ninety-thousand men were in Indian captivity. More than five thousand kilometre square of Pakistani land had been captured by India. The state had undergone large-scale obliteration during the war. The economy was at its nethermost point and the inflation rate had scrabbled to 40%, which was the history’s worst. Worthless commodities such as sacks and matches were rare to be found. One had to wait in long queues to purchase a barrel of edible oil & other necessary commodities. The international reputation and image of Pakistan had been demolished. Wasn’t this the nation’s worst stage?
But Bhutto didn’t lose hope and dedicated his three-quarters of the day to work. He toiled tirelessly to ameliorate Pakistan’s situation. Some of his initial measures were as follows:
He brought about a few major alterations to the military and replaced thirty-five officials, which included the appointment of a new Chief of Army Staff, General Gul Hassan who was subsequently replaced with General Tikka Khan. Then he signed the Simla Agreement with India in 1972, in which India returned Pakistani land as well as prisoners of war, captured by India in exchange Pakistan pledged to keep the Kashmir Issue at a bilateral level. After that, he promulgated provisional constitution in 1972 and constituted a committee to draft the constitution of Pakistan as soon as possible. And in 1973, the constitution of Pakistan, which was based on democracy, was put into place.
After some of these prompt measures, Bhutto persisted in working for the well-being and uplift of the Pakistani people.
He nationalized most of the Pakistani Industry which included; The Steel Works; Vegetable and Oil Industry; the insurance companies and the Cement Industries. These were some of the major industries which had been nationalized and the mention of some other has been capered. This act was carried out to break the influence of the twenty-two families who had dominated 66% of the Pakistani industry, 80% of its banking sector and 97% of its insurance companies. It would seem bigoted that all of the rich’s wealth had been seized by the government, but the fact that he exploited the poor thus adding to his poverty, compelled the government to take such actions. Even if the wealthy had respected the law and evaded the manipulation of the needy and instead encouraged him, then the notion of nationalisation was a biased one, but his behaviour was entirely anonymous. Nationalisation probably was the first step towards the prosperity of the poor because the monopoly of the influential was at stake.
Then another historical milestone was accomplished, when the construction of the Karachi Nuclear Power Plant and Nuclear Power Plant, Kahuta was completed. The former was to function as an electricity generator, while the latter was aimed to develop nuclear weapons. Abdul Qadeer Khan, a scientist, who had studied in America as a part of the Pak-America education program, was appointed to serve the purpose. This development was an aftermath of nuclear tests carried out by India in 1972, and so Bhutto had pledged fissile arms, uttering, ‘we would have eaten grass in order to achieve the aim’. Such passion was adequate to identify how mandatory it had become for Pakistan to build atomic weapons. And indeed, the enthusiasm was justifiable as Pakistan’s arch-rival, India already possessed nuclear arms. If the development had seen even a slight delay, Pakistan would have experienced mammoth catastrophes at the Indian hands, and the 1971 humiliation would had seemed just a pint-sized outbreak. Therefore, the nuclear weapons were successfully developed and their tests were carried out in 1998 to nail the feat.
Bhutto had taken a plethora of other steps that contributed to the nation’s enhancement.
Apart from his social and economic works, he also played a vital part in religious affairs.He declared the Qadianis as non-Muslims and stressed upon the fact that they were not a part of the Muslim community. The Hajj Policy was made free and error-free copies of the Holy Quran were printed.
Selling of the same medicine under the brand name was proscribed and thus their prices plummeted dramatically. The evil foreign companies who had illegally doubled the remedy prices came to a close. The sole reason for this was the enormous cut in profit.
Low-priced shops for the poor were made with cheap necessities available and other commodities could be bought with easy, interest-free monthly installments. Several salary bonuses were given to workers of any mill or factory and the workplace was responsible to educate a single child of every worker. Trade unions were established between labor forces to tackle the ill-treatment of any of them. Basic Health Units and Rural Health Centers were set up in remote areas and every newly qualified doctor had to spend his first year therein. The process of passport making had been made smooth with one-window operation system. It was compulsory for every college student to learn elementary shooting skills. Pakistan Steel Mills was established at Pipri with the assistance of the USSR and this was an exceptional landmark towards economic and military development as many articles in the prior used steel as their raw material. All of this wasn’t just paperwork but was subject to punctual implementation and with all these effective measures he was able to reduce the inflation rate to only 6%.
When Bhutto tried to introduce reforms in Baluchistan, he had come in conflict with the Balochi tribal psyche, which condemned any such alterations. So the entire Baluchistan was dominated by unrest when Bhutto dissolved the provincial assemblies of Baluchistan and then aid of 700 million USD from Iran helped resolve the dispute. Although some believe that the chaos was the effect of dissolving the assemblies, the vice versa is true, because if the nature of the Balochi tribes is put in consideration, they disgust and repel modern ideas and prefer the beliefs of their forefathers.
Heading to Bhutto’s international plans and works, he had arranged the solution of the Kashmir Issue, all in the favour of Pakistan, and this is evident from the fact that Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) found its own officers guilty of siding with Pakistan, an occurrence which relates to Indian armed men in Kashmir. And the chaos that emerged in the Indian-occupied Kashmir when Bhutto was hung, further validates the action.
Thereafter, he organised a meeting of the Organisation of Islamic Countries (OIC) and gathered together all the Muslim nations in on earth. On the occasion, he discussed the current position of global Muslim community and negotiated measures to enhance it. This was a considerable effort towards Muslim unity and peace.
Moreover, he planned to build up an Islamic Army, which comprised of the armies of the entire Muslim world. The expanses of this force was the responsibility of wealthy Muslim nations. So in this way, he was able to save a majority of Pakistan’s budget, by making the military’s expenditure, a duty of wealthy Muslim nations.
Furthermore, he requested all those countries, who had deposited their money in foreign banks, to transfer it into Pakistani banks. In this way, Pakistan could utilize the capital in developmental projects, which would help upgrade its infrastructure and economy.
But unluckily, all of this was a matter of time, and that was only thing that Bhutto lacked. His challenging measures had troubled the world powers and there were tough times ahead.
The development of the nuclear weapons was always intolerant to America, who self-sustainably possess the certificate of a global policeman. Other targets such as the development of an Islamic Army and incorporating the divided Muslim World, further triggered the Americans, as its plans and politics had been hurt. Therefore, Zia-ul-Haq, the Chief of Pakistani Army, to reinstate its global status, and an army coup resulted in Pakistan in 1977, where the PPP had won another gigantic triumph in the elections. Therefore, democracy had once again been overthrown and the military rule was in place. Zia-ul-Haq accused Bhutto of the murder of J. A. Rahim Khan and he was imprisoned. Such false a case this is, that even the lawyers elude citing it during a judicial argument. Soon Bhutto was ordered death-penalty by Zia’s own judiciary and Bhutto was hanged on 4th April 1979.
While in jail, he penned down a tome known as ‘If I Am Assassinated’, in which he made predictions following is assassination and elaborated the cons of it.
During the period when the politician was behind bars, about a dozen people burned themselves alive as a form of protest of his imprisonment. A villager even gave his two sons to be hanged in place of Bhutto. Thousands of people were flogged on publicly declaring their support to him. Installing flags of PPP on dwellings was fiercely objected and the violator could experience hard-hitting penalties, if flags not segregated. Such was the bedlam that it seemed a crime to be a PPP aficionado. Notwithstanding that exertions carried out by the PPP supporters; Bhutto’s assassination was inexorable.
Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was a great leader and indeed the best in the Pakistani history. He was the only one who stood for the poor, who remained sincere with his people till his last breath as his statements and actions proved. He was the only person with the complete comprehension of world politics and Muslim interests. And possessed a through blueprint of how Pakistan should be governed. He lifted the country from its rock-bottom to an apogee. He was the most visionary and intellectual politician of Pakistan. His observation and cleverness were outstanding and his way of negotiation and convincing was remarkable. He possesses an excellent character and was a humble, yet a superb person. It is the Pakistani nation which misunderstood or either exploited his value and worth. He deserved a nation of his caliber and mindset. All of this might seem exaggeration under the influence of partialism but this actually is the summary of this article. Therefore, he verily, he was a diamond in a coal mine.
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