Remembering A Leader

Rest in peace! Benazir

I had not gone any further than learning my alphabets when I first heard the name of late Ms Benazir Bhutto. The third Dark Age of our history had just ended and the atmosphere was rife with the news of elections. People were to have a sigh of relief after the long spell of dictatorship. There was an air of joy. The simplest but suppressed desires of people were to be given a chance to become reality. There was hope. It was at that time when I first heard her name.

Being different from normal names, it had struck to my heart. I found it quite extraordinary that somebody could be named with such a qualifying word. Benazir, which in Urdu means unmatchable, something or somebody there is no one like, in this essence did prove to be Benazir. Her name was the only thing I remembered for a long time about her. I was too young to understand the intricacies of politics.

Let’s say it an irony of nature that when the nation was yet to see any fruits of democracy in the country, also when my generation was getting old enough to understand the games of power, we were yet again pushed into another Dark Age, fourth as a matter of fact. I was aghast to see the broader picture of politics in the historical perspective in our corner of the world. This was only possible when I had to go through an unlearning process after the learning process of my schooling.

During the course of turning to new millennia and five years further down the road, we as a whole, and my generation, the product of 80’s, in particularly, were put to a propaganda that last democratic leaders were in fact inapt and inefficient. That they alone were responsible for the current situation of the country, its economy and its institutions. That the Gunmen had yet again proved to be the Saviours of the state and people. But fortunately people are not in a mood to buy into this idea. Lawyers’ movement, media’s struggle, civil society’s awakening to its rights, widespread resistance movements and political parties’ raising of their voice over rigging of polls, condemnation of dictatorial regime’s steps by international community, commodities’ crisis faced by the public are enough examples of presenting us with a fair guess where the government is heading towards and what the people want.

It is sad to notice the truth in the old proverb that the good die young. This had been particularly true of the politicians of this Land of the Pure. From our father of nation to Liaqat Ali Khan, to Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto and now Ms Benazir Bhutto have all been unfortunate in not having enjoyed their natural span of life but were subjected to assassin’s bullet, hangman’s noose or shooting-and-bombing. I have my deepest regard for these leaders as it was they who have shaped the path of the country with their unmitigating efforts and determined approach towards the betterment of the people.

Pakistan had been lucky in a way that it had received three great leaders in a short period of 60 years. Quaid-e-Azam was the first, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto was the second while Ms Benazir Bhutto was third in this row.

Denial was the first reaction when I heard of her death, disbelief came next. Harsh realty was awaiting the next day when she was buried. Distress, rage and anger were the next wave of emotions which then culminated into large spread violence and looting. Deprived felt the party workers and followers later on.

She had become more than a leader. Her life had become an embodiment of an ideology (that of Quaid-e-Azam’s and Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto’s). She was someone our wretched people looked up to, a symbol for emancipation of women, a herald of democracy, an ambassador of Pakistan’s soft image, a fighter against dictatorship, the unity of federation, a woman of immense intellectual stature, a force in her own. But all ended in smoke when she was removed from the screen of our politics one unlucky day in our history.

She had a very fulfilling life but her life was not free from troubles and tragedies. At an age of 37 she had virtually seen everything of her life. She had studied at the world’s best institutions, was prime minister of her country, had married and had children, been opposition leader, had faced jail and most of all had witnessed her father’s judicial murder. She came through all those situations with conviction and integrity, with courage and perseverance - being clearer in her demand of democracy and her greater role for providing the same to her Gunmen-besieged-people.

“A man can be destroyed, but not defeated,” Surely, when Ernest Hemingway wrote this famous line in his Nobel prize winning novel ‘The Old Man and the Sea’, Benazir was yet to be borne. But this line fully sums up the life of this brilliant and charismatic politician who in the end gave her life while serving the cause of democracy. Though confronted with unlimited hurdles, she kept her resolve and tread the path of struggle with great courage, bringing hope and joy to the millions of depressed people in this country.

Benazir, the dearest of the leaders, you will be remembered not due to your heydays but due to your hard days, your struggle against tyranny and upholding of justice and ideals of democracy. We, as a united nation, hope that we would be able enough to walk the path that you set for us. You will stay in our hearts and prayers forever. Rest in peace! Benazir