Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, the falcon of Pakistan

400 Pages·2002·4.01 MB·English

by  Abdul Ghafoor Bhurgri

Zulfikar Ali Bhutto

CONTENTS

Foreword 4
Preface 7
Leader of the People 12
Genesis of the Bhutto Family 30
Jinnah and Bhutto 47
After the Quaid 63
The Draconian rule in Pakistan 72
Foundation of Pakistan’s Foreign Policy 105
Foreign Policy – Bhutto’s Contribution 114
The Forsaken Kashmir 150
The War of 1965 166
Tashkent Declaration – Parting of Ways 183
Bith of Pakistan People’s Party 191
Bhutto Storms Ayub Regime 202
Bungling and Blunders of Yahya’s Regime 212
Six Points and Legal Frame Work Order 1970 222
General Elections and Aftermath 238
East Pakistan, Brothers or Slaves 249
The Abject Surrender 266
Bhutto Presides Truncated and Humiliated Pakistan 287
Land Reforms 322
The Second Islamic Summit Conference 330
The Falcon of Pakistan 345
Larkana – A Land of Leaders 359
Abortive Elections – Treason and Treachery 369
Trial and Tragedy 385

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

Many friends and individuals, too numerous to mention, have
contributed in their recollections to many of the historical aspects mentioned in
the book

I am particulary grateful to Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto for her
encouragement me in writing this book without which it would not have been
possible to accomplish this Herculean task, and to Dr. Javed Laghari for his
help and dedication in reviewing and revising the manuscript despite his busy
schedule.

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FOREWORD

Pakistan first democratically elected Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was
executed at the age of fifty by a military dictator. The constitution was
suspended and a reign of terror unleashed. Young men were tied to stakes and
whipped. Others were hanged. Still others tortured.

Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, the Father of the Pakistani
Constitution, founded the Pakistan Peoples Party in 1967. a charismatic,
intelligent and popular leader, he gave the people hope and dignity. He saved
the country in 1971 after it disintegrated following the genocidal policies of
military dictator General Yahya Khan
Known as Quaid-e-Awam, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was a world statesperson.
His vision, will and presence inspired a generation of political and diplomatic
leaders across the the world.

Bhutto’s Pakistan Peoples Party swept to power after winning a
landshide victory in then West Pakistan. Such was his popularity and program,
that unknown personalities toppled political gainsts. Under the PPP tricolors
flag, his message of “Roti, Kapra Aur Makan” galvanized the people. It
frightened the power brokers and the elite. His policies of nationalization broke
the monopoly of a group of 22 capital barons who exploited the land and its
resources. It enabled the building of Pakistan’s infrastructure as well as opened
the doors to a middle class.

Modern Pakistan was built by Bhutto. He reduced land holdings to about
150 acres to abolish feudalism and Jagirdari system. He introduced the article
pertaining to Habeous Corpus in the Constitution. He emancipated women,
gave job guarantee and workers welfare to labour. The right of universal
passport came with him. He was a nationalistic Pan Islamic leader who
tirelessly tried to unite the Muslim world. He was the father of Pakistan’s
nuclear program, the first in the Islamic world. Zulfikar Ali Bhutto governed
from December 1971 to July 1977.

He saved Pakistan from General Manekshaw’s threat of further division.
He was a strong supporter of the Kashmiri people and a fearless fighter against
colonialism who wrote the book, “Myth of Independence”. His other works
include “The Great Tragedy” which began as a letter written to his daughter.

His third book was “My Dearest Daughter” written from prison. His other
writings are found in judicial documents as well as prestigious magazines of
the world. He captivated the international audience with his powerful intellect
and his unmatchable ortaroy. His speeches in the United Nations were listened
to in spellbound wonder.

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Bhutto was imprisoned many times. He was held at Kot Lakhpat Jail,
Mianwali Jail, Sukkur Jail, Rawalpindi District Jail, and Karachi Jail. He was
killed in the Rawalpindi jail. The whole world mourned his murder with heads of
state and government openly condoling with the Bhutto family. Many had sent
delegations to General Zia to spare the life of a man who united the Muslim
Ummah and was the pride of the Muslim world and the develping nations.

General Zia offered the PPP that he would work with it if it agreed to his
minus Zulfikar Ali Bhutto formula. The PPP refused South Asia then witnessed
its most barbaric period. Young men were lashed for shouting “long live
Bhutto” by military courts. They were tortured by the Inter Services
Intelligence which Zia used as his political party. Many were sentenced in
summary military courts to death by hanging. The case of Martyr Naser Baloch
because a clear case of murder when it was revealed that the death sentence
was approved by General Zia before it was announced by a military court.
Many young men burned themselves alive in front of main business centers to
protest the arrest and murder of the great Quaid-e-Awam. It is said that South
Asia never witnessed such a brilliant and charismatic leader before nor would it
witness it again.

Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was murdered on April 4, 1979 after
General Zia refused to comply with an unanimous Supreme Court request that
the death sentence be commuted. Shaheed Bhutto refused to plead for his life
even as the hour of the gallows approached. He said that he was afraid of God
and no one else.

After his martyrdom, Shaheed Bhutto loomed over Pakistan’s political
destiny. Young men took up arms to fight General Zia and military rule. The
situation was defused to the election of Shaheed Bhutto’s daughter Benazir.

Both of Shaheed Bhutto’s sons were killed.

Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was the son of Sir Shahnawaz Bhutto, the prime
minister of Junagadh and the man who separated Bombay from Sindh thereby
paving the way for Pakistan. His Mother was Lady Khursheed Bhutto.

Zulfikar Ali Bhutto graduated from the University of California at
Berkeley as well as from Oxford. He was called to the Bar from Lincoln’s Inn in
London and taught Law at Southampton University for a while. He was the
youngest delegate to the United Nations for his time as well as the youngest
cabinet minister and youngest elected chief of state. He was admired by
leading members of the world community including the philospher Bertrand
Russell, President Bush Senior, Dr.Henry Kissinger, Secretary of State and
National Security Advisor, President Giscard of France, Saudi Arabia’s Shah
Faisal and many others.

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Prime Minister Zulfikar ali Bhutto was described as the bestdressed man
of his time. The young people in particular supported him. His struggle began
from the halls of students in colleges and universities across the country. When
he was killed, the whole world mourned him. Even the troops in Kharian, then
the leading military corp, did not eat food for three days despite the fact that
Zia came from that corp.

On April 4, the name of Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto reverberates
throughout the world. His martyrdom is commemorated across Pakistan, the
Gulf, Europe and America.

His supporters still shout, “Zinda Hai Bhutto, Zinda Hai”. And indeed he
is.

BENAZIR BHUTTO
April 4, 2002

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PREFACE

“A preface being entrance of a book, should invite by its beauty,
An elegant porch announces the splendour of the interior.”

Disraeli

History writing is indeed an onerous, delicate and difficult job, Even for a man
of profound knowledge of history with an unbiased mind, it becomes a matter
of trial to portray and paint a true picture of the personalities who have been
makers of history and have remained immortal in its annals. But in spite of
failings and follies, the subject of history continues to remain all important, for
it is the only source which throws light on the life of the great men who have
been guideposts and landmarks in the world. It is truly said. “History is a voice
forever surrounding across the centuries the laws of right and wrong. Opinions
alter, manners change, crrds rise and fall, but the moral law is written on the
tables of eternity.” History is a mirror through which the past of mankind is
reflected.

I have undertaken the task of writing the biography of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto
(1928 – 1979), the most outstanding personality and Prime Minister of
Pakistan from 1972 to 1977; it has been named “Zulfikar Ali Bhutto – the
Falcon of Pakistan” keeping in view his high historical and heavenly soaring
especially in the political horizons of his country and the Muslim World. True,
he was quite a controversial statesman and was ultimately executed by his
own country men ignoring the weeping and wailing of the masses of Pakistan,
turning down the earnest appeals from the Muslim World and discarding the
voice of the World. Great men have always been controversial, but these
controversies do not in any manner detract or mar their celestial loftiness, and
Z. A. Bhutto is certainly one of them. The Superior Courts of his country held
him guilty of murder and he died as a result of those verdicts. But the people
of Pakistan deeply and universally mourned his death, exonerated him
honourably from the charge of murder and held him as their hero, their
emancipator and martyr. I think that judgement of the people is never
fallacious and it is the voice of God. Even today, in spite of the tirade of
slanderous propaganda, he is reckoned as the most powerful force in the
politics of Pakistan. The historians have held the judicial courts destructive
wars fought throughout world by the “highly cultured and civilized class – the
cream of the intelligentsia” in the name of peace and tranquility. Even Holy
Prophet Christ was crucified under the verdict of the court, according to
history; Socrates, the greatest Greek philosopher, benefactor of the world, was
murdered under orders of the same forum forcing him to gulp the deadly
poison. I feel that this predicament will continue vigorously so long as the
world I there.

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Mr. Muhammad Ali Jinnah, Asia’s greatest man of his time, was the
founder of the largest Muslim State in the world, in spite of the tough and
tortuous opposition of the British Government and the All India National
Congress composed of the Hindu leadership. After his death, Pakistan has not
produced such a dynamic, charismatic, capable, courageous and strong willed
statesman. Thereafter the history points out only to Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and
none else. And it is a most remarkable coincidence that both these barristers
belonged to the soil of Sindh, a province of Pakistan. Apparently not very
devout Muslims had inherited the identical political and economic ideas,
concept of Muslim Brotherhood and the unification of the Third World countries,
understanding of the most hostile Indian attitude to cripple and liquidate
Pakistan forever. Thus they were two sides of the same coin.

Jinnah did not live long after the achievement of Pakistan; and the time
he was alive passed in agony and pressures; on one hand Indian aggression
was threatening and on the other, barring few; his cooleagues indulged in
conspiracies, internal feuds and merry-makking. Bhutto was martyred at a
young age and innumerable obstructions were placed in his path by the
internal and external forces. Prior to that, H.S. Suharwardy an able politician
and an adroit administrator was not allowed any chance by the “big guns” of
Pakistan to serve his country. It is my emphatic contention that in case nature
had provided them even a quarter of century to run Pakistan; they would have
changed the destiny of the nation, and the present state of affairs in which this
Country is languishing and lingering- like a “sickman” would never have been
witnessed. It is to the great misfortune of Pakistan; that these who knew the
mysteries of rise and decline of the nationas and could act patriotically with
promptitude, could not get adequate opportunity to make Pakistan a
developed, progressive and prosperous land of the world. It was an avowed
objective of Bhutto to revive the glory, glamour and greatness of Granada and
Cordovan Karachi and Lahore.

The undeniable fact is that the laws of nature are similar and impartial
for all; God has made no discrimination amoungst His creatures. Those who
under-stand and follow the innutable laws of nature will grow strong and
happy, and those who flout with impunity and impudence, are bound to suffer
the buffets of nature. Bhutto played his memorable part not only for Pakistan
but also for the Muslim Countries and the Third World that were being
politically and orchaestrated economically by the sharp cutting wheel of the
powerful and callous countries. But in this process, he himself was physically
cut in pieces. However, that did not matter much with him politically and
spiritually, he made himself and immortal hero in the world history and this is
what he wanted. He did not believe in compromises in the matters caring little
for the consequences. He never fearted death; while he was bravely facing the
throes of the Generals and Judges. But after him; Pakistan has ceaselessly
suffered and its people have never heaved a sign of relief after his martyrdom.
The physically dead Bhutto still wields tremendous political influence in
Pakistan, more than any after living leder despite the passage of more than
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two decades of his decline and demise. The Islamic belief is that martyrs don’t
die.

There are Pakistani writers who penned the life of Bhutto in fragmentary
style, some are fair and appreciative, they have tried to do justice to this
political gaint. After the exit of Z.A. Bhutto from Ayub cabinet, some army
generals, who were already participants in the power polities of the country,
and in lesser number some civil bureaucrats who had their special role to play
in the dictatorial regime, overnight becam politicians, thinkers and writers. But
it seems that they have tried to defend and justify their own actions and
behavior. They have made exculpatory statements, shifting the serious charges
to others. Some generals went to the extent of forming their own political
parties and bringing their professional friends into the political arena, though
they ultimately proved total failure. However, this strange admixture
aggravated, confused and spoiled the political situation to the detriment of the
country.

The more important aspect to which I would like to refer is the
unsympathetic attitude of foreign writers to Z.A. Bhutto, with due deference I
must admit that they are professional and hardworking in their writings, but
their approach is not free from prejudice or rancour. This attitude is not based
on any personal malice or motive, but it is the result of traditional and
historical perspective. Most of the western scholars and journalists think in
terms of West versus the Muslim World. Since Bhutto was a profound
champion of the cause of the Muslim World and propsed to bring back the
greatness and glory of Islam when the Muslims had their sway over the world
for centuries, and strongly pleaded the cause of the Third World in the
paramount interest of World peace, justice and coexistence.

With the advent of independence, Gandhi had virtually retired from
political life, and he had nothing much to do with the Government affairs. But
Jinnah could not afford to sit as spectator, he had to bear the brunt of the
pressing problems of his new born country – his own baby that was struggling
for survival and was seriously threatened by India from the date of birt.
Moreover, Pakistan was penniless. India had withheld almost all the assets to
the exclusion of Pakistan’s own share; and the politicians who had worked with
Mr. Jinnah had failed to come up to his expectations. As such Mr. Jinnah had to
resort to extraordinary measures and literally worked himself to death. After
his demise the conditions worsened further, and problems went on multiplying,
the sense of deprivation and frustration was prevailing everywhere, and more
so in East Pakistan. This attitude of the vested interests from the West Wing
finally culminated in seccession of East Pakistan in December 1971. The
dismemberment created more complications, thus the confusion was more
confounded. When Bhutto took over the reigns of Pakistan, it was simply in
shambles. The army and the civil bureaucracy were deeply demoralized. And
the common man seething with discontent, was in excruciating agony. Nobody
was prepared to take charge of a torn and humiliated Pakistan when none
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