The impact of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto on Pakistan is deep-seated, indelible and highly entertaining for a student of history. Pakistans president, Asif Ali Zardari, keeps declaring that hell follow the philosophy of his mentor, his own father-in-law, to change Pakistan. Many, however, have the opinion that although Bhutto without doubt was a great politician, he was not a philosopher.

There is no doubt that his role as politician without the suffix of philosophy is great enough to stand him in good stead in the annals of Pakistan history. Politicians within the ranks of the PPP, including his own daughter, believe that Pakistan must move on and should not relive Bhutto seniors period again.

Bhutto: An Exemplary Leader

Bhutto did many great things Pakistani leadership can emulate but he also committed many blunders that they must avoid. He gave voice to the poor and the downtrodden of his country. He faced up to India at a time when India had over 90,000 war prisoners along with a big chunk of Pakistan land. He was a great orator of par excellence and articulated the cause of Pakistan at all international forums with great acumen, agility and wisdom that can rarely be matched by many international leaders.

Great Programmes for the Country

Under Bhutto Pakistan established profound relations with other Islamic countries. He made it easier for Pakistanis to get passports and go abroad to earn foreign exchange. He is the father of Pakistans nuclear programme which even cant be denied by the most myopic of his detractors. Wah Ordnance Factory, Heavy mechanical complex, Texla and Karachi steel mills are the product of his vision seeing Pakistan an independent, self reliant and progressive nation.

Bhutto: His Downfalls

There at the same time are his downfalls. The same unanimous constitution Bhutto made and the PPP is proud of, which is being revived these days, he amended six times in quick succession distorting its unanimous spirits. The most part of his rule basic rights granted by the constitution remained suspended. Profusely he spoke about the rule of the people by the people but, in fact, he as well as his acolytes, the landed aristocracy, distanced themselves from the people when a chance for the real change came. He was a revolutionary sans revolution.

Product of a Dictator

Bhutto, like other popular leaders in Pakistan , was the product of a dictator. He was initially a great proponent of Gen. Ayub Khan and was secretary general of his party. He was Ayubs covering candidate in the presidential race against Mohtarma Fatima Jinnah, sister of Quaid e Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah, founder of Pakistan. He nationalised industry, insurance companies, banks and educational institutions and ruined them. His own daughter undid what Bhutto had considered the best for the country.

Bhutto was not entirely different from Gen Musharraf if taken as a democrat. Bhutto was intolerant to dissension within and outside the party which was his great undoing. He sacked two provincial governments, sent army into Baluchistan, crushed all political dissent with brute force, created Federal Security Force with ulterior motives that finally could not save him, arrested poets like Habib Jalib, politicians like Abdul Wali Khan and other Balochistan leaders and initiated high treason cases against them.

A Secular Demagogue

Bhutto was a secular demagogue. He started off with socialism as his polity and under duress ended up with Muhammadan Equality. He made Friday holiday and declared Quadianis non-Muslim and banned drinking, betting and horse races and other similar non-Islamic acts which no earlier leader could do in Pakistan . He was a visionary of special kind.

He was interested in leading the people by serving them in his own way. Even his critics agree that there is no doubt that had he been given a chance he would have changed the destiny of Pakistan .

Bhuttos political successors need his political vision and strength to act, avoid his pitfalls and build upon his passion for the poor and the have-nots of the country. They should not grope for his philosophy of life or create one. People of Pakistan need their leaders translate slogans into tangible realities: Roti, Kapra aur Makan, Bread, food and house. Call it Bhuttos philosophy or his mission.

Bhutto: A Visionary

Bhutto was a visionary to realise what really beset people of Pakistan and inflamed their passion to realise those objectives: basic human needs. The inheritors of Bhuttos political legacy should have his vision; they only need to direct their energies towards realising those goals instead of creating a non-existing philosophy for political propaganda. According to Charles M. Schulz, a US cartoonist, Theres a difference between a philosophy and a bumper sticker.

Introduction

There is no doubt that his role as politician without the suffix of 'philosophy' is great enough to stand Bhutto in good stead in the annals of Pakistan history.

First appeared in the Suite101 on Apr 4, 2010