The legacy of Benazir

THE elections are over in Pakistan, with all predictions coming true; a new government composed of the victorious Pakistan People's Party and Nawaz Sharif's Muslim League is about to take over. But the cry for President Musharraf to step down even before the dust has settled appears a little pre-mature and not in good taste.
It sounds almost like a war cry after the war has been fought and won. The reason lies, probably, in the peculiar constitutional amalgam in Pakistan, where the president has in his hands substantial power to intervene in the constitutional process.
Time and again, presidents in Pakistan have dismissed elected governments on unconvincing, flimsy reasons, reducing the very concept of parliamentary government into a sham. At least, the people always felt so, and also concluded that such infringements were either intentional or unnecessary, or could have been handled differently.
The sixty years of Pakistan's history are replete with instances when unwary people woke-up to find popular governments toppled overnight. This had trickled down even to the provincial level, when the then governor dismissed the government of Abu Hossain Sarkar in the then East Pakistan barely within twenty-four hours of its formation.
With such a morbid history it is not so surprising that a government in the making in Pakistan would be suspicious of the president's intentions, and would want him to go before they take up the task of constitutionally limiting the powers of the president and make the post a truly ceremonial and titular one. They would want to usher in a genuine parliamentary form of government, where the prime minister does not lose his/her office at president's whim.
The remarkable comeback of political parties in Pakistan, specially the PPP, was written on the wall for anybody to read. There was, of course no serious opposition to such an electoral outcome. A Bhutto not living proved to be stronger than a Bhutto alive. But then the question who killed Bhutto, like who killed Kennedy or Patrice Lumumba or Martin Luther King, will continue to remain a mystery and continue to hover in our minds long into the future, even after the tragedies have faded in memory.
Nothing shook the world in recent times so much as the violent incident in Rawalpindi, that took away the life of the most vibrant, loved, and lively leader. Like any politician, Benazir Bhutto loved crowds. People's cheers are the lifeblood and inspiration for any public leader. Benazir was no exception. The inner self of such people would shrink and die if they could not go near their people and come within reach of their extended hands.
When Bhutto ended a long exile abroad, she knew about the dangers of returning to her homeland. But her people were more important than herself, more necessary than a sheltered life.
The tragedy that ended her life unfolded from the very moment she stepped into the city of Karachi. Her assailants kept on striking repeatedly and relentlessly until they could make their mission a success. It is immaterial that she had stuck her head out through the sunroof of a car. The killers would have struck anyway, in a different manner, in a different design, in a different place.
The death of Benazir was highly tragic. She was so gifted and articulates that, despite being the leader of an impoverished Asian nation, she could catapult herself to the position of a world leader. Nicknamed the Daughter of the East, Benazir drew inspiration from the past and was unique in herself.
This was no mean achievement, and did not come about so easily. The ordinary Pakistanis adored her as much as the elite, the gentry that ultimately matter in any society, did. The people believed that only she was capable of removing social and economic injustice, and courageous enough to stand up to the establishment, the oligarchy of rich Pakistani families, whether or not she could actually translate into reality the avowed ideals of "roti, kapra, aur makkan" (bread, clothes and shelter).
A great majority believed that her Pakistan People's Party would come to power again to fulfill their desire to establish an exploitation free, egalitarian society. Never mind if she was dismissed twice on charges of corruption and nepotism. Such ups and downs, people viewed as only natural for an affable, adorable and popular person. Charisma is more important than ability, the dream of a promised land more prominent than reality.
Benazir could always make her mark through brilliant rhetoric. Maybe this alarmed her opponents most and caused her ultimate undoing. The legacy left behind by Bhutto is largely what she had inherited in a turbulent Pakistan.
Pakistan People's Party, a relatively new political outfit, gained quick popularity, and it's founder Zulfikar Ali Bhutto rose to unbelievable heights of popularity in an incredibly short time. Using popular socialistic slogans Bhutto left every other Pakistani leader far behind him.
The years that followed, however, saw many inconsistencies in the policies of Z.A. Bhutto, even in foreign relations. The brilliant brain that worked in settling border issues with India under the Simla agreement somehow lost its way, and the past mistrust crept in to bedevil the relationship between the two neighbours.
Benazir did try to repair such mistakes, and was immensely popular with Indian society. She was more practical and moved away from stunt slogans, and was not willing to eat grass to make an Islamic bomb or fight a thousand years battle with India. She was also trying to balance the policy with the West without overlooking China, and tilt toward the East without annoying the West.
She could also manage to overcome the occasional dent in her popularity and was fast becoming the most popular leader in Pakistan's history. The army was willing to whitewash her past, quash all criminal cases against her, and let her begin a new journey. A journey, alas, so perilous that ended only in gruesome tragedy.
What if this journey had gone on? Could she have succeeded in ending militancy and terrorism, violence and suicide bombers, or in calming the disaffected Pakistanis? Could she stand by firmly to the ideals of a true people's Raj, ending poverty and illiteracy, and raising per capita income of the average Pakistani? Most of all, could she ever take steps in establishing welfare politics and welfare economics? Could she fine tune the armed forces and engage them solely in the defense of Pakistan? Could she fight Islami extremism and yet make good a commitment to Islamic ideals, values and principles? All this, sadly, we shall never know ever.

Moinuddin Chisti is a former PSP and a freelance contributor. He is lifetime member Dhaka University Alumni Association and ex-VP of DU Political Science Association.