Indus Queen

Shaheed
Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto
1953-2007

A
Tribute
To
My

Great Sister & Leader

Shaheed Mohtarma
Benazir Bhutto
Mir Aijaz Hussain Jakhrani, Jacobabad

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Indus Queen
Shaheed
Mohtarma
Benazir
Bhutto
By Mir Aijaz
Hussain Jakhrani

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"The tyrant dies and his rule is over, the martyr dies and
his rule begins," 19th century Danish philosopher Soren
Kierkegaard said of difference between a tyrant and martyr.
December 27, 2007 goes in our history as a monumental day
when the tyrant forces of Pakistan attacked and martyred the
People's Queen Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto in
Rawalpindi. Still unbelievable by my senses, but looking at the
gloom and mourning across the world, especially Pakistan, I
reluctantly admitted to myself that my great leader and sister
is no more in this world.
A source of inspiration, an enormous mind which
communicated to the every mind in Pakistanis creating hope
among hopeless, a brave lady with a brilliant brain, a rare
combination of physical and spiritual being, Shaheed
Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto had been Pakistan's biggest asset
even more powerful than the nukes that we have. The chain of
federation that she really was is martyred by anti-Pakistan
forces hidden in different garbs and veils. The earth is shaken.
Evil eyes that want to tear apart this nation of 170 million are
the only eyes, which didn't shed tears. Every eye is weeping.
All those who love and care for the motherland are mourning
and will continue to mourn for losing a leader of such high
stature that this country would take centuries to produce
again. She was killed because she looked like a hope for every
Pakistani. A nation is orphaned.
I am one of the few of Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto's
fortunate brothers whom she blessed with her brotherly
affection. In the general elections scheduled for January 08,
2008, it was decided that the Chairperson will address public
meetings at Divisional Headquarters only because of the
shortage of time. She was addressing a huge public meeting in
Mirpurkhas on December 18, 2007 when I sent her special
request through email that since caretaker Prime Minister
Mohammad Mian Soomro has gone mad to get his nephew

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from Rawalpindi win against me from NA-208 and was

adopting all powers under him in pre-poll rigging while brave
PPP workers are giving strong resistance, hence my sister
should consider to come to Jacobabad to address a public
meeting here to boost the people's morale here. I was
surprised to receive her phone call from the stage of
Mirpurkhas public meeting tell me that "Aijaz, I am coming to
Jacobabad on December 19". And she did come and energized
the PPP workers and people of Jacobabad to stand bold
against dictator's cunning caretakers. My great sister and
leader stayed overnight at my home and Jakhrani family has
saved the memories of the moments Shaheed Mohtarma
Benazir Bhutto shared with us for generations. She talked to
me till 1:30 am when I yawned asking me now is the time to
go to sleep. The stamina of work that my sister had is
unmatched as she slept less.
My tall and brave sister is not with us now but her ideas,
love, affection, personal sacrifices, ideology, and commitment
will stand as guiding lights for entire nation. "I put my life in
danger and came here because I feel this country is in danger".
Such is the quality of leadership in my Shaheed Chairperson
Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto. She was the real leader as leaders
sacrifice themselves while politicians seek sacrifices from the
people.
Pakistan and its generations will always remember
Shaheed Chairperson Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto and her
legacy will live on for centuries. May God Bless My Sister With
Heavenly Abode and Rest Her Soul in Eternal Peace. AMEEN

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On Oct 16, before returning home, I wrote

a letter to Gen Musharraf in which I
informed him that if anything happens to
me as a result of these attacks, then I will
neither nominate the Afghan Taliban, nor
Al Qaeda, not even Pakistani Taliban or
the fourth group. I will nominate those
people who, I believe, mislead the people. I
have spelt out names of such people in the
letter, she said. I have named three
people, and more, in that letter to Gen
Musharraf. I have named certain people
with a view to the attack that took place
yesterday so that if I was assassinated,
who should be investigated.

If I am
Assassinated

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Below are excerpts from some

published news reports about
Shaheed Benazir Bhuttos
apprehensions and accusations
about her possible killers since
the terrorist attack on her
Karachi rally on October 19,
2007

Email to be used only

if I am killed
Associated Press/Dawn, December 29, 2007

It was a story CNNs Wolf Blitzer hoped he would never

have to report an email sent through an
intermediary to him by Benazir Bhutto
complaining about her security. Conditions
of use: only if she were killed.
Ms Bhutto wrote to Wolf Blitzer that
if anything happened to her, I would
hold (President Pervez) Musharraf
responsible.
Mr Blitzer received the email on
Oct 26 from Mark Siegel, a friend
and
long-time
Washington
spokesman for Ms Bhutto. That
was eight days after she
narrowly escaped an attempt on
her life on Oct 18.
Benazir Bhutto wrote to
Blitzer: I have been made to
feel
insecure
by
his
(Musharrafs) minions, that
specific improvements had not
been made to her security
arrangements, and that the
president was responsible.
Blitzer agreed to the
conditions before receiving the
e-mail. He said on Friday that

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he called Siegel shortly after seeing it to see if there was any

way he could use it on CNN, but was told firmly it could only
be used if she were killed. Siegel could not say why she had
insisted on those conditions.
Blitzer reported on the e-mail late on Thursday. He noted
that Ms Bhutto had written a piece for CNN.com that
mentioned her security concerns and that American
politicians had tried to intervene on her behalf to make her
feel safer. I didnt really think that it was a story we were
missing out on, he said. I dont think the viewers were
done any disservice by my trying to hold on to this.
Wolf Blitzer was the only journalist sent such a message,
Siegel said. He also sent the e-mail to Representative Steve
Israel, a New York Democrat.
Siegel said he did not believe Ms Bhuttos opinions
had changed since she wrote the e-mail. Her message
specifically mentioned she had requested four
police vehicles surrounding her vehicle when
travelling;
Siegel
said it seemed
evident from
pictures
taken at
t h e

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assassination scene that the request was not fulfilled.

Ms Bhutto did not necessarily believe that President
Musharraf wanted her dead, but felt many people around
him did, he said.
Her husband contacted Siegel on
Thursday to remind him about the email message and to make sure it got
out, he said.

Zia remnants
blamed for
Karachi carnage
Dawn, October 20, 2007

Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto on Friday (October 19,

2007) condemned the suicide attack on her rally (in
Karachi) and blamed it on what she termed Zia
remnants. She said that before returning home, she had
written to President Pervez Musharraf that more than
three officials were planning suicide attacks on her.
The attack was a message sent by the enemies of
democracy to all the political parties of the country. It was
intended to intimidate and blackmail all the political forces
and elements working for democracy and human rights. It
was a warning not only to me and the PPP but to all political
parties; indeed to the entire civil society.
On Oct 16, before returning home, I wrote a letter to
Gen Musharraf in which I informed him that if anything
happens to me as a result of these attacks, then I will

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neither nominate the Afghan Taliban, nor Al Qaeda, not even

Pakistani Taliban or the fourth group. I will nominate those
people who, I believe, mislead the people. I have spelt out
names of such people in the letter, she said. I have named
three people, and more, in that letter to Gen Musharraf. I have
named certain people with a view to the attack that took place
yesterday so that if I was assassinated, who should be
investigated. She alleged that more attacks were being
planned on her life. She said her apprehension was that a
strike would be made ..The modus operandi will be that
selected people will be planted in the police department and
posted near my house. Perhaps, commandos will be sent in
the garb of a rival political party and blamed for the attack.
Ms Bhutto said she had shared this piece of information
with Gen Musharraf and was confident the government
would take pre-emptive measures.

After Bombing, Bhutto

Assails Officials Ties
New York Times, October 20, 2007

Looking pale and shaken the day after she survived a

suicide bomb attack, the opposition leader Benazir Bhutto said
Friday that she had warned the Pakistani government that
suicide bomb squads were going to go after her on her return to
the country and that it had failed to act on the information.
Ms Bhutto pointed the finger at government officials who
she said were sympathetic to the militants and were abusing
their powers to advance their cause. She did not identify them
on Friday, but said she had in a letter to the government this
Tuesday. It was not clear if she was implicating the officials

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directly or accusing them of dragging their feet on her warning.

I am not accusing the government, but I am accusing certain
individuals who abuse their positions, who
abuse their powers, she said.
Aides close to Ms. Bhutto said that one of
those named in the letter was Ijaz Shah, the
director general of the Intelligence Bureau,
another of the countrys intelligence agencies
and a close associate of General Musharraf.
Mr. Shah hung up when asked by
telephone for a reaction to the allegations.

Bhutto names
suspects in
letter to
Musharraf
24 Oct 2007, 1706 hrs IST , PTI

Former Pakistan Premier Benazir Bhutto has

named four well-known persons, including Punjab Chief
Minister Chaudhry Parvez Elahi and former ISI chief Hamid
Gul, as those who pose a threat to her life in a letter to
President Pervez Musharraf, the media here reported today.
In the letter written on October 16, two days before she
returned to Pakistan from eight years in self-exile, Bhutto said
she feared there was a threat to her life from Elahi, Gul,
Hassan Waseem Afzal, the former Deputy Chairman of the

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National Accountability Bureau (NAB), and Intelligence

Bureau chief Brig (Retd) Ijaz Shah, Geo TV reported.
In a press conference held hours after the suicide attack
on her motorcade in Karachi on Thursday night that left
nearly 140 people dead, Bhutto had, however, said
she had named three persons in the letter.
She had indicated that there
were also other officials who
posed a threat to her life as, she
claimed, they were abusing their
powers and positions.
Bhutto, who also referred to
three persons posing a threat to her
life in a complaint she submitted to
police in Karachi, has so far not
publicly named these persons.
In her complaint, Bhutto only said
that police should take action against
those whose names were given to
Musharraf.
The government has so far been silent
on her allegations though Musharrafs
spokesman defended the IB chiefs integrity
and reputation and said there was no move to
sack Shah.
Some media reports had earlier suggested
that Sindh Chief Minister Arbab Ghulam Rahim
was also named in Bhuttos letter.
Afzal, who played a key role in probing graft charges
against Bhutto and was removed from his post in the NAB
due to pressure from her PPP party, is currently serving as
Secretary to Punjab Governor Lt Gen (Retd) Khalid Maqbool.

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The Duty

My
Wife
Left Us
By Asif Ali Zardari
Co-Chairman,
Pakistan Peoples Party
The Washington Post
January 5, 2008

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Last week the world was shocked, and my life was

shattered, by the murder of my beloved wife, Mohtarma
Benazir Bhutto. Benazir was willing to lay down her life for
what she believed in -- for the future of a democratic,
moderate, progressive Pakistan. She stood up to dictators and
fanatics, those who would distort and defy our constitution
and those who would defame the Muslim holy book by
violence and terrorism. My pain and the pain of our children is
unimaginable. But I feel even worse for a world that will have

to move forward without this extraordinary bridge between

cultures, religions and traditions.
I married Benazir in 1987 but spent less than five years
living with her in the prime minister's house over her two
terms in office, which were interrupted by military
interventions. I spent more than 11 years in Pakistani jails,
imprisoned without a conviction on charges that former prime
minister Nawaz Sharif and Pervez Musharraf (who brought
and pursued the charges) have now publicly acknowledged

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were politically motivated. Even before Benazir was first

elected prime minister, in 1988, Pakistan's intelligence
agencies began working to discredit her, targeting me and
several of her friends. I was called "Mr. Ten Percent" by
their hired guns in public relations, and the names of her
friends abroad were besmirched with ridiculous charges
that they headed the nonexistent "Indo-Zionist" lobby.
This campaign of character assassination was
possibly the first institutional application of the politics of
personal destruction. Benazir was the target, and her
husband and friends were the instruments. The purpose
was to weaken the case for a democratic government. It is
perhaps easier to block the path of democracy by
discrediting democratic politicians.
During the years of my wife's governments, she was
constrained by a hostile establishment; an interventionist
military leadership; a treacherous intelligence network; a
fragile coalition government; and a presidential sword of
Damocles, constantly threatening to dismiss Parliament.
Despite all of this, she was able to introduce free media,
make Pakistan one of the 10 most important emerging
capital markets in the world, build over 46,000 schools
and bring electricity to many villages in our large country.
She changed the lives of women in Pakistan and drew
attention to the cause of women's rights in the Islamic
world. It was a record that she was rightly proud of.
Her murder does not end her vision and must not be
allowed to empower her assassins. Those responsible -within and outside of government -- must be held
accountable. I call on the United Nations to commence a
thorough investigation of the circumstances, facts and
coverup of my wife's murder, modeled on the
investigation into the assassination of former Lebanese
prime minister Rafiq al-Hariri. And I call on the friends of

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democracy in the West, in particular the United States and

Britain, to endorse the call for such an independent
investigation. An investigation conducted by the
government of Pakistan will
have no credibility,
in my country or
anywhere else. One
does not put the fox
in charge of the
henhouse.
But it is also time
to look forward. In
profound sadness, the
torch of leadership in
the Pakistan People's
Party (PPP) has been
passed to a new
generation, to our son,
Bilawal Bhutto Zardari. I
will work with him and
support him and protect
him to the extent possible
in the trying times ahead.
The Bhutto family has given
more than anyone can
imagine to the service of our
nation, and in these difficult days it is critical that the party
remain unified and focused. My wife, always prescient and
wise, understood that. Knowing that the future was
unpredictable, she recommended that the family keep the
party together for the sake of Pakistan. This is what we aim to
do.
The Musharraf regime has postponed the elections
scheduled for Tuesday not because of any logistical problems

but because Musharraf and his "King's Party" know that they
were going to be thoroughly rejected at the polls and that the
PPP and other pro-democracy parties would win a majority.
Democracy in Pakistan can be saved, and extremism and
fanaticism contained, only if the elections, when they are
held, are free, fair and credible.
To that end, the people of Pakistan must be guaranteed
elections that are (1) conducted under a new, neutral
caretaker government, free of cronies from Musharraf's
party; (2) supervised by an independent and autonomous
election commission formed in consultation with the
major political parties; (3) monitored by trained
international observers who have unfettered access to
all polling stations as well as the right to conduct exit
polling to verify results; (4) covered by electronic and
print media with the freedoms they had before martial
law was imposed on Nov. 3; and (5) arbitrated by an
independent judiciary as provided for in the
constitution. In addition, all political activists,
lawyers and judges being detained must be
released.
The enemies of democracy and tolerance who
took my wife from me and from the world can and
must be exposed and marginalized. Dictatorship and
fanaticism have always been rejected by the people of
Pakistan. If free and fair elections are held, those forces will be
defeated again on Feb. 18. And on that day, the vision and
indefatigable spirit of Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto will burn
brightly, and, in the words of John Kennedy, "the glow from
that fire can truly light the world."

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Pakistan's
Tipping
Point
We cannot let my
mother's sacrifice
be in vain
By Bilawal Bhutto Zardari
Chairman, Pakistan Peoples Party
January 6, 2008

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You can imprison a man, but not an

idea. You can exile a man, but not an
idea. You can kill a man, but not an idea.
-- Benazir Bhutto
My country mourns. And as my
countrymen join me in personal grief
over the loss of my mother, I join them
in national grief over the loss of
something even greater: the loss of
Pakistan's greatest voice for democracy.
Benazir Bhutto's death, however,
shall not have been in vain. We will go
forward, as she would have wanted,
and bring freedom and democracy to
Pakistan.
For those in my country who would
find it easier to walk away from
democracy and seek revenge through
violence, I urge you to remember my
mother's words: democracy is the
sweetest revenge. To plunge the country
into more violence and chaos would
only play into the hands of those who
hope for democracy's failure. The
terrorists have no use for democracy,
and the current government fears it.
We must unite and rise above both.
And to those outside of my country,
who support our fight for democracy, I
urge you to consider this: We cannot
oppose one form of tyranny while
turning a blind eye to another. Together,
we must stand against the violence of
the terrorists on the one hand, while

standing equally firm against Pervez

Musharraf's use of it as an excuse to impose
his own repressive will upon the people of
Pakistan.
Musharraf has made a mockery of our
constitution. The world watched in disbelief
as he declared emergency rule and sent
troops into the streets in November - not
because of a terrorist threat to the
government, but a constitutional threat to
his autocratic grip on power. The men he
threw into jails were not terrorists but
Supreme Court judges and respected
lawyers. The newspapers he intimidated
were not organs of terrorists but of free and
independent citizens of Pakistan.
My mother stood bravely against both
the tyranny of terrorism as well as the
tyranny of dictatorship. She has been
martyred for her courage and pursuit of
pursuit of freedom, but now that courage
and pursuit has been bequeathed to the to
the people of Pakistan. We shall carry on.
It will take the kind of courage my
mother showed showed. It will take courage
among her loyal followers to calm their
anger and renounce violence or revenge. We
must instead demand fair and open
elections, free of government intimidation,
and then make our show of force on election
day.
It will also take courage on the part of
Pervez Musharraf and those who have
supported his government, including those

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outside of Pakistan.
With my country's judges and lawyers still in jail, its free
media intimidated and silenced, and its political leaders unsafe
to walk the streets, we cannot pretend to have
free and open elections. There
can
be
no
legitimacy to
elections held
under
such
o m i n o u s
conditions.
Those
who
espouse
the
virtues
of
democracy cannot
stand by idly and
maintain
their
credibility while this
repression continues.
Our free and
independent Supreme
Court
must
be
restored; the justices jailed by
Musharraf must released and returned to their proper seats,
replacing the cronies with which Musharraf has packed the
current court. Our other judges, lawyers and civic dissidents
must be freed. The intimidation campaign waged against the
free media must be halted. International election observers
must be allowed to monitor our elections to ensure against
government intimidation. And, finally, a credible international
commission must be allowed to investigate the mysterious
circumstances of my mother's assassination. Only after these
steps are taken can we begin the honorable march to
democracy and stability.

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For those who think that by supporting dictatorship they

are somehow securing stability in Pakistan, I can say only this:
Where is that stability today? My country teeters on the
precipice of anarchy not because of any actions by radicals or
terrorists but because of the unchecked and power-mad
actions of a military dictator.
Pakistanis will soon hold the
most important election in our
history. We have reached a tipping
point. We will either unite behind
democracy and the fight against
radicalism and violence, or we
will descend into the all-toofamiliar cycles of despotism,
terror and instability.
Those of us who will fight
for democracy must make our
stand now. Then, together, a
united
and
democratic
government can turn its
attention to the extremists
and terrorists who seek to
undermine freedom in our
country and throughout the
world.

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BENAZIR BHUTTO
The
Unmatched
Queen Of
History
By Anam Soomro

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Muhtarma Benazir Bhutto did not choose life, it chose her.

Iit is very rare to come across a person who posesses it all, you
name it and she had it! Be it her gracious looks, her charismatic
personality, her soft heart , her loving and caring nature and
most of all her selflessness. She was one of the noble people
who spent most of her early life outside Pakistan, but she did
not forget any of her norms, customs and values, she did not
forget the people back in her country, but their pain dwelled in
her heart. She was, one of the rare bread of political leaders
having studied from universities like Oxford and Harvard. I
must say that here we notice that from an early age she was on
the footsteps of her father Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto.
Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto could have opted for an
easy way out, she could have stayed back in America or
London and got herself an awesome job with perks to lead a
luxurious and a peaceful life, but why would she go for
something that was easy? She was the precious daughter of a
precious father, she had to prove herself, she had to fulfill the
promises that she made to her father that no matter what
happened to her she would come back to Larkana, her
ancestral village. Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto always
said 'the dust and heat of Larkana was in her bones'. Shaheed
Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto decided to come back after she
completed her studies, she came back to Pakistan. She came
and she conquered too small a phrase, because to conquer she
had to go through a lot of pain and sufferings. It seemed as if
her father Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto already knew that
behind her 'pinky' hid the brave and tough Sindhi tigress. If I
had to describe her in two words i would say 'a tigress', 'a
fighter'.
Her divine and beautiful brown eyes were like a mirror,
reflecting all the pain and sorrow, the pain of loosing her father
at a vey early age, the person she loved the most, but she was
strong and did not bend, hence she decided to pick up a battle
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and threw the constitution and gulped the rights of the people
of Pakistan. She decided to carry on with her father's mission
that is to bring democracy in Pakistan. Shaheed Mohtarma
Benazir Bhutto fought marvelously and bravely, not afraid of
being 'baton charged', not afraid of being house-arrested, not
afraid of being jailed, not afraid of losing her life. I must say
what a brave lady she was. She finally succeeded in her
mission and Pakistan People's Party won the elections held in
1988, therefore Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto was the first
woman to have been sworn as a Prime Minister of Pakistan on
December, 2, 1988, the first woman to lead a Muslim nation.
But, her struggle did not end here, she had to fight for her
rights of the downtrodden, as sadly gender bias has always
existed in Pakistan, and she being a woman had to walk an
extra mile for everything. Questions were raised on her being
eligible for the post of a Prime Minister for being a woman.
Then again Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto fought and she
won, and in turn cleared a hurdle for the future woman Prime
Minister of Pakistan. She was tear-gassed during her
pregnancy, and had to go as high as Siachen glaciers during
her second pregnancy , this was all to break her spirit, but she
was a woman of her words, she did not shrink from any of her
responsibilities but accepted them, open handedly. She was
twice elected as a Prime Minister of Pakistan. During her rule
she faced many ups and downs, and many hurdles. Her
brother, Shaheed Mir Murtaza Bhutto was assassinated during
her rule, this was a move by the establishment to break the
strong walls of PPP and kill the party. Shaheed Mohtarma
Benazir Bhutto's spouse Senator Asif Ali Zardari was arrested
and imprisoned for around 8 years. Can you believe it? Being
arrested for 8 years without having proved guilty. What a
shame on such regimes. Despite all odds and huge sufferings
and difficulties in the form of jails, media trial mud-slinging,
she survived and raised her head instead of lowering it. She
was forced into exile for more than 8 years, and all these years

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Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto is known to have spent

mostly travelling from one world capital to other. After so
many years she came back to her country on October, 18, 2007
despite imminent threats. We can never forget the divine and
sacred face of Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto, when she
first stepped on her country and raised her hands towards the
sky, praying and thanking Allah, Almighty. It seemed as if her
face was lit up with joy that day, with the feeling of relief and
contentment, her face was full of noor that day. The brave lady
denied to stand behind the bullet proof glass, but chose to
stand in open air on a truck waving to three million people
who had come from every nook and corner of the country to
receive her at the Karachi airport. However, the anti-Pakistan
forces nurturing the terrorists could never see her and people
of Pakistan happy together, and there was a bomb blast on the
very same night, where our Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir
Bhutto managed to survive but 150 innocent and poor people
lost their lives. The brave tigress was unmoved by the attack
on her life, instead she bucked up, delivering speeches at
places like Jacobabad, Hyderabad, Larkana (which personally
is one of my favourite speeches of her's) where she was in josh
and shouts "kal bhi bhutto zinda tha aaj bhi bhutto zinda hai *
* jiye jiye jiye Bhutto". Sadly, her speech at Liaquat Ali Bagh
proved to be her last speech ever, as she lost her life, on
December, 27, 2007. Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto was
assassinated , that is shot while she was waving at her people
from the sun-roof of her jeep, and then the shots were followed
by a bomb blast, and she fell in the jeep uttering the last words
'Ya Allah'. This tragedy occurred when I was in London, I got
a phone call from one of my friends who said, Anam, Bibi is
no more and I shouted back on him saying listen this is a
ridiculous joke and then I put on Geo and I see 'muhtarma
benazir bhutto goli lagney ki waja se jaan bahak'. I feld frozen
and not believing what I saw. My body became heavy, and I
called up my baba, who works for the Pakistan Peoples Party

and I heard him crying, crying like never before in life and at
that moment I myself burst into tears, crying over the loss of
the whole nation, the loss which could not be defined. The loss
was more than anyone could have ever imagined and people
will realize this in the many coming years. We hail her, as her
life was full of opportunity, responsibility and fulfillment. She
is alive in us and the three candles that she left behind i.e.
Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, Bakhtawar Bhutto Zardari and Aseffa
Bhutto Zardari to give light to us in darkness in the many
coming years, inshallah, Ameen. Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir
Bhutto always said 'democracy is the best revenge'. Ghar Ghar
se Bhutto Niklega Tum Kitne Bhutto Maroge.

I N D U S

Bilawal
Bhutto
Zardari:
Children are their
parents' ambassadors
to the future society
By: Surendar Valasai
(Published on September 21, 2006 on 18th
Birthday of Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and Shaheed
Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto liked it very much)

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33

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I N D U S

Q U E E N

How would a boy grow who spent nearly five years of his
childhood in the Prime Minister House in two internals?
How would that same boy be who saw his parents
dragged from the Prime Minister's House to court rooms and
jail for the rest of his nearly 13 years childhood?

This boy became an adult on Thursday, September 21,

2006. Every Pakistani can guess rightly who that boy is.
He is Bilawal, the serious, sober and only son of former
Prime Minister Mohtrama Benazir Bhutto (and the first
grandson born to Quaid e Awam Zulfikar Ali Bhutto) who
turned 18 years old on this day.

Many of the countrymen may have failed to rightly

understand the feeling of this budding personality. The
experience together with the knowledge this youngman has
gained in 18 years of childhood life is exceptional. He observed
the ruthless face of dictatorship first hand. He saw the
treatment being meted out to his parents at the hands of
dictatorial foes. Ordinary souls will need hundreds of years to
understand things that he knows today at his 18th birthday.
He knows that in his motherland those who disintegrated
the country never went to jails. Yet his parents who laid
foundation of sound national defence through nuclear power
and missile system are pushed into jail and hounded through
world's worst slander campaign. Millions were poured in from
state's resources to run this cruel campaign.
His mother heads Pakistan's most popular political party,
the Pakistan Peoples Party, and his father, Asif Ali Zardari, has
become an asset to it through personally sacrificing ten years
of his life in jail for the cause of people, party and democracy.
Those afraid of people's rising political awareness tried to quell
people's wave by hanging its Chief Architect Quaid-e-Awam
Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto in 1979. Then his beloved
daughter was targeted, jailed, hounded and forced into exile.
But the wave of awareness continues to swell and dwell at
the height its Chief Architect had built. Dictator Zia, who led
assault on rising political awareness, was forced to announce
general elections in 1988. Though he vanished into Basti Lal
Kamal air even before conducting the elections, his successors
' ensured that the most popular political party of the country
would not get an overwhelming majority in the elections by
creating the IJI. Yet the Pakistan Peoples Party led by
Shaheed's daughter Mohtrama Benazir Bhutto came out as
largest parliamentary party in these elections.
It was during this period that Zia tried to play with a
child's schedule of birth through his schedule of elections.

I N D U S

Thus Zia had already attacked nature, which

instantly plucked him away in a horrible style.
Thirty-six days after Zia vanished, Bilawal is
born and lands in the Prime Minister House
within two months of his birth. His mother
Mohtrama Benazir Bhutto's induction as
Prime Minister was received with jubilation
in every nook and corner of the country.
Political
power
restored
people's
confidence that power rests with them.
But this was felt as a threat by the
military dictator Zia 's successors. To kill
or curtail this emerging confidence of
strength and empowerment amongst
the masses, Mohtrama's governments
were dismissed in 1990 and 1996. She
and her husband Asif Ali Zardari
were
hounded
with
many
references, and fabricated cases.
Jails become second home to Asif
Ali Zardari. He may have been in
spiritual communication with his
children but jails kept him away
from his son. Every father had
right to see his children
growing. There is a natural
enjoyment of seeing this
process for a father.
Every historic event takes decades to
evolve and unfold so Mohtrama and Asif Ali
Zardari ensured their spiritual guard attains physical strength
to be able to protect ordinary souls from evil and devil. His
mother has polished him into a serious and sober youth of 18
years. Bilawal, which means the first, has few personalities
who can match him in history. He was the first child since the

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beginning of time to be born to an elected Muslim woman

leader. His expected birth was the first to lead to a general
election. It led to the end of an eleven-year military
dictatorship. He was born amidst national rejoining by a
people who saw his birth as an omen of better times to come.
There are a handful of examples when an unborn child
inspired political action even before his physical birth. Such
children stand tall as great heroes of their time in history
books.
Today Bilawal knows that his mother was targeted due to
her popularity amongst the Pakistani masses whom her Father
and she sacrificed for . Dictatorial forces fear a popular

leadership at helm of affairs in the country, which will

empower the people and disempower the forces of
exploitation. They have conspired with brains and tools to
keep the popular leadership away.
But with Bilawal at 18 means Mohtrama Benazir Bhutto
and Asif Ali Zardari attained the age of having grand-children.
What Bilawal learnt in his 18 years of life experience others
need hundreds of years to learn.
Bilawal's physical arrival on earth restored political power
to the people in 1988. Today many pray that his entry into
adulthood will restore both political and economic power to
the people .

I N D U S

A
ruler
of
hearts
By Dr Javaid Laghari
The News - January 19, 2008

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Q U E E N

My friend, my sister, my mentor, my leader, I was

fortunate to be associated with her, leading a university
named after her father, of which she was the chancellor.
Having the privilege of travelling with her around the
world, I wish to share her unique leadership qualities.
What is the difference between a politician and a
leader? A politician asks for sacrifices, a leader gives one.
She gave the ultimate sacrifice for her nation. One does not
need power to be a leader. A leader needs followers, and
she had plenty of them, even when out of power. How
many prime ministers, presidents and generals can claim
that? Power does not make leaders. History and followers
do.
Determined to succeed and deliver the agenda of
moderation and reform, she had the drive to put Pakistan
onto the right track. Far bolder than any male leader, she
told the Afghan president hours before her tragic
assassination on December 27 that "life and death is in the
hands of Allah, and that is why I have the courage to stare
in the eyes of death without any fear."
Her star power and striking beauty made her more
charismatic than Princess Diana and John Kennedy
combined. Her sophistication and diplomacy established a
large network of friends and admirers around the world.
At the World Political Forum in Italy in 2003, when she
walked into the conference hall, almost forty world
leaders stood up and applauded her. She would stop a
conversation or an activity just by walking into a room.
She lectured regularly at universities globally where she
would dazzle a large audience.
Intelligent, wise, well-educated and well-read, her
favourite shopping at airports were bestsellers,
autobiographies, history and leadership books. Within
minutes she would devour every newspaper on a flight.
Her photogenic memory would remember every meeting

I N D U S

and everyone by name. She was a genius and a decision maker.

While others would fumble for weeks strategizing party
policies, she would analyze the situation within seconds and
come up with a creative solution and new directives. When
reflecting over disagreements, time would tell she
was always right. Her other interests in life included
feng shui, astrology, health and nutrition. A talking
computer and walking encyclopaedia, she had multitasking abilities. Very well-organized, disciplined,
and punctual, she could bring any management guru
to shame. She spent countless hours on the PC and
the blackberry. Working with her on the election
manifesto, each document was ripped apart with ink.
The final manifesto is a full credit to her creative
abilities, spelling out the five Es: employment,
education, energy, environment and equality.
Empathetic, compassionate, generous and kind,
she supported hundreds of desperate individuals and
families around the country, people unknown or
heard of, except through an email received. Once she
received an email from a critical patient with six
unmarried daughters, requesting a major hospital
expense. With tears in her eyes, she opened her purse
and asked to see the money reached its destination. I have
witnessed tears in her eyes when talking of the assassination of
her father and two brothers, and of the plight of the poor.
Hospitable and caring, she would remember her friends,
relatives and admirers wherever she was and send them gifts
regularly. I recall once in Germany, our attendant driver was
stunned to receive the same gift from her which she had asked
him to help choose for someone else.
A strong believer of reconciliation, she would forgive and
forget. Many have accused her wrongly of adopting this policy
of forgiving her father's killers, and recently of reconciling with

Q U E E N

39

the existing setup, but for democracy she believed in healing

hearts and forging unity. She was not vengeful. One can now
see this reflection in Bilawal when in his first public address to
the media after his mother's assassination he stated that

"democracy is the best revenge".

When at home, she would exclusively dedicate her time to
her children--discussing their interests in life as well as relating
her own experiences. She would spend weekends with her
family as well and take care of her ailing mother. Spiritual and
pious, she offered prayers, did walks, practised yoga, went
shopping and had a craving for chocolate and ice cream.
She was a jewel in the crown, a royalty who ruled hearts.
This country will never be the same without her, at least for
this generation. Bibi is gone but her legacy will continue.

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Where
angles fear
to tread
Benazir
doesn't
The Post | Dec 6, 2007

PPP chairperson moves

freely in NWFP, the
hotbed of suicide
bombers, extremists
Hafiz Sanaullah

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Sunday last was not off for the enthusiastic and excited
PPP activists in the provincial metropolis. They cancelled or
postponed all their Sunday's engagements. For them the long
awaited arrival of Benazir Bhutto was more important than
their participation in weddings, their weekly visits to relatives,
their drawing room, Hujra and baithak sittings and their
gossip in qawakhanas. It was after 10 years long span of selfexiled period they were going to capture the opportunity to
have a glimpse of the bold daughter of their beloved party
founder Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto who used to refer to Peshawar as
second Larkana. Benazir Bhutto's whirlwind tour coupled with
her to unannounced dashes to late Arbab Jehangir's Hujrastyled residence, to Walibagh without Wali Khan, to the mud
house of a PPP victim of the Karachi bomb blast and to a
wood-cum-mud grassy hut of a slain PPP activist and to the
small house of her party's assassinated minister, were enough
for Peshawarites to call her "lioness" of the jungle of politics to
get a lions share of politics in this politically fertile and
conscious province. In Frontier, where Aftab Sherpao is found
cautious about his and his emerging politician son's security,
Amir Muqam is scared of free movement and Salim Saifullah
seems careful, nothing worried Benazir Bhutto whether this
belt is the hotbed of suicide bombers or stronghold of religious
militants or gripped by a wave of militancy. She listened to
none of the "don't go to Frontier" advice. She moved into
Peshawar and elsewhere and put her head together with the
impatiently waiting PPP activists here and there to ponder
over the controversial issue of boycott or no boycott of the
polls. Her visit coincided with the rebellion of loosely knit
Maulana Fazlur Rehman's JUI lawyers wing. The lawyers say
the Maulana hurt the lawyers' feelings for speaking against the
deposed judges while BB won over them for voicing their
reinstatement.
It was charismatic Benazir Bhutto who brought back
several old sincere but annoyed PPP leaders and activists into

I N D U S

the party fold once again. Former provincial minister Iqbal

Khattak is back in the pavilion. The uncle General
Naseerullah Babar is also back. She kept the door open for
Qazi Anwar advocate.
During her stay Benazir Bhutto addressed the party
workers and a press conference as well to sum up the
purpose of her visit.
What she wanted to tell was her stand on the
controversial issue of election boycott. She made it clear
that she was for boycott provided all the parties are
unanimous. She said so because she doubted the unanimity
of all the parties. It is the reason she in the same breath said
boycotting the polls means nothing but to give a blank
cheque to President Pervez Musharraf.
I heard much about Benazir Bhutto when she emerged
as Benazir with her father Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto in the Prime
Ministers House. I could not see her during the lifetime of
late Bhutto having his fame spread far and wide. I saw
Benazir Bhutto for the first time while she was in gloom and
sadness over her father's hanging to death in jail by a
military regime. She came to Peshawar to condole with late
Bhutto's jiyalas and share her grief with them. Where were
the jiyalas she could not find? Many were thrown into the
jails after receiving lashes by the military courts. A few
went underground. I was then bureau chief of the news
agency PPI. One day Qazi Anwar advocate, a progressive
and diehard leader, sent me a message inviting me to a
highly limited gathering of not over one dozen for Benazir
Bhutto in Park Hotel, just in front of my office. Qazi Anwar
said it was just a get together with Benazir Bhutto over a
cup of tea. "What is the use of my coming to the hotel? Press
is gagged and there is no chance of getting into the print
even a harmless story on Benazir Bhutto," I told Qazi.
I went to the hotel where I saw the teenager Benazir
sitting on a sofa in the hall. Hardly were four to five people

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each on her both sides. I found Benazir Bhutto tremendously

reserved and shy. She was neither well versed with the style of
speech making nor oratory or sermon giving. Then she was too
young for this. She spoke very briefly and that too in a gloomy
and sad manner as the bereaved daughter of late Bhutto.
She could only say, "My father is a victim of tyranny. My
father is assassinated for a crime he never committed. Tyrants
and the cruel have deprived Pakistan of a great politician."
Benazir neither hurled any threat nor talked about revenge of
her father. She was brief, sober and civilized in her talk. There
was complete silence in the hall. The whole atmosphere was
gloomy. Qazi Anwar
advocate introduced
me as a journalist to
Benazir Bhutto after
the tea. I saw in her
eyes the rising flames
of revenge. She neither
used the bullet nor the
gun to take revenge of
her beloved father's
death. However she
extinguished the fire of
her and millions of
Jiyalas' revenge by a
political sword. She led
the 10 hours long
processions
which
jolted the President's
House. Benazir Bhutto
was elected prime
minister twice after the
air crash of President
General Ziaul Haq.
Like her father she too

called Peshawar as second Larkana. She paid frequent visits to

Peshawar.
During her last visit to Peshawar she faced an
embarrassing situation in the Governor's House where she was
to address a tribal jirga. The venue and the dais were
beautifully decorated. Red carpets and bouquets added
decoration. Meanwhile Benazir Bhutto, the then prime
minister, with a purse in her hand appeared from the porch
coming to the lawn of Governor House, the venue of the tribal
jirga. The then Governor Khurshid Ali Khan and former
federal minister for tribal affairs Abdul Qayyum accompanied
her. As Benazir Bhutto tried to climb and stepped on the dais,
she suddenly slipped and fell on the ground. She lost the grip
on her purse. Her palms and knees received slight bruises.
Nobody could dare to pick her. Governor Khurshid's face went
pale. The Minister blushed. Since Benazir was a female,
nobody dare to lift her. There was no female in the tribal jirga
to help her. Perhaps she could be easily lifted had Asif Zardari
been there. However Benazir Bhutto herself stood up and
occupied the seat on the dais. There was no sign of anger or
annoyance on her face. But her mood was off from the core of
the heart. The audience noticed this. While addressing the
tribal jirga she said that eight tube wells have been approved
for the tribal areas. Upon this the minister for tribal affairs
intervened and corrected the figure to 18.
"You told me eight. Why you did not tell me before,"
Benazir Bhutto filled with anger asked the minister.
The same day Benazir Bhutto's plane wheel tyre burst at
Islamabad airport after she flew from Peshawar airport. These
two mishaps were a bad omen as Benazir Bhutto's government
was dismissed after three days.
This time on her visit to the US about NWFP bordering the
troubled Afghanistan, she conveyed to the White House she
was capable to converting heaven into the hell for the militants
once she was voted to power.

I N D U S

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45

OCT 18:
The Day
of National
Awakening!
By Lateef Mughal

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Q U E E N

Terrorism is big threat to peace in

the world. Terrorism breeds when
extremism gets sponsorship. A similar
kind of situation prevails in Pakistan.
Ruling establishment, which nurtured
extremists to keep popular democratic
forces at bay and creating artificial
threats for modern world, perhaps
turned its back to them unwillingly.
Nation was informed of the fight
against terrorism.
The fight against extremism in
Pakistan cannot be fought without
national
reconciliation
and
involvement of the masses. Pakistan is
awakened now that such crucial
internal fights, sponsored by outsiders,
cannot be won through a few
institutions alone. Masses can alone
make such Hercules national task a
success. Our master brains, who saw
strategic depth in Afghanistan for
Pakistan have finally ended up the
country in a quagmire self-made. It
seems that minds, which are selected
and trained with geographic defence
education have admitted now that only
a popular leadership has the capacity to
protect the ideology of Pakistan and its
national interests.
It is appreciatable that such an
awakening seems visible especially at a
point of time in history where Pakistan
stands at a crossroad today. There is
choice available now for Pakistan,

I N D U S

whether it wants to be another Afghanistan or goes back to the

founding ideology of Pakistan.
Washington-based anti-terrorism group 'Terror Free
Tomorrow' said Pakistan Peoples Party Chairperson and
former Prime Minister Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto is the
popular hope for majority of Pakistanis. She enjoys the support
of 53 leaving behind another two-time Prime Minister Nawaz
Sharif. The ruling clique may even loose in homes if their

Q U E E N

47

family members are given real freedom of choice. Thus it is out

of the survey ambit. In 2002 general elections, Mohtarma
Benazir Bhutto was restricted from contesting the general
elections, but the chief of a banned extremist organization
Maulana Azam Tariq was allowed to contest and become an
MNA to be able to cast his decisive vote to form the
government of covert extremists. The Pakistan Peoples Party
bagged the largest number of votes was pushed to the third

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position in Parliament representation. . Covert

extremists were given task to root out overt
extremism and terrorism. Instead, they squeezed
the space for civil society and its liberal forces.
The overt extremists were moved in to fill the
space. Country's largest civil society political force
Pakistan Peoples Party appeared the real target of
this regime. PPP remained the most victimized
political party in Pakistan during the last eight
years also. Its leaders were targeted and killed
including MP Abdullah Murad and the
Chairperson's close confidante Munawar
Suharwardy. Media trial and character
assassination of its leadership was carried out by
the regime spending millions of dollars. Agencies
made defections among the party legislators
through carrot and stick policy. Party
Chairperson's spouse Asif Ali Zardari was held in
jail for eight and a half years. All the worst
victimization was carried out against it because
the PPP is always the symbol for democracy and
civilian rule.
Time is running out for the covert extremists,
who ruled Pakistan under the shadow of uniform
since 2002. The establishment must have learnt
now that the nation cannot get rid of extremism
and its bye-product of terrorism without popular
support of the masses. PPP's goal from the outset
was to set the course for to a successful transition
to a democracy and a political marginalization of
the anti-people and extremist forces. The party
wants to rekindle the dream of Quaid-e-Azam
and Quaid-e-Azam for Pakistan and its people.
Rekindling the dream of Quaid-e-Azam for
the people of Pakistan is the real hope and this

I N D U S

HOPE returns to Pakistan on October 18. And hope for

tomorrow lands back in the country after 3565 days in exile.
Pakistan braces to welcome its hope. "I am coming back to
Pakistan regardless as to what happens to me because the
country is facing the threat of disintegration, the regime has
lost control over tribal areas, there is insurgency in
Baluchistan, rule of law has collapsed in Karachi and Punjab is
facing sectarian and religious violence eating the very roots of
the federation," Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto said last month
when her return to home was announced in eight different
places in Pakistan.
"My goal is to prove that the fundamental battle for the
hearts and minds of a generation can be accomplished only
under democracy," said Mohtarma. "Extremism looms as a
threat, but it will be contained as it has been in the past if the
moderate middle can be mobilized to stand up to fanaticism. I
return to lead that battle."
It is clear now forces that considered "War on Terror" as a
lucrative project and condensed it to limited ruling groups
have finally awakened, Pakistan seems to have finally
awakened. Why the masses were kept aloof from participation
in nation's fight against extremism and terrorism? This
questions whispers in every ear that cares for future of world
peace and progress and prosperity of Pakistan. October 18 is
going to be the Day of National Awakening when Pakistanis
will rekindle their dream of a liberal, democratic, peaceful,
vibrant Pakistan with justice, fair play, equality, human rights,
freedom, progress and prosperity as the most recognized and
followed rules of the society.

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51

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Cry
The
Beloved
Country
Gulzar Bano - Lahore

Be proud Karachi Lahore Peshawar Quetta

The Iast century records a historic birth
A heroic girl child of Destiny in Pakistan is born
Her bones close to the land of Moenjodaro
Her blood with the power of the mighty Indus
Her will with the measure of the Karakurrams

I N D U S

Q U E E N

53

She could on IV be named BENAZIR

A global woman, not only daughter of the East

Beauty and brains without fear Benazir inherits

Her mother can no longer embrace her

Tutored by a gra.ciou5 mother

A phenomena she returns in Hope for Pakistan

In the shadow of a charismatic father

Unable to watch and kiss her own children

When the gallows devour her towering parent

Karachi welcomes Benazir with tumultuous joy

She stands by her mother" a granite pillar

The angel of death permits her homecoming glory

Mother and daughter cannot be destroyed

Benazir now in touch with Eternity moves every day

By the forces of land or sea or air

Her devotees elated energized mesmerized

They hold a and lead the PPP

In the armored commandoed city she must descend

The people yearning for dignity with Roti Kapra Makan

Set agendas for free fair elections in the land

A Muslim woman in obscurantic Zla's chauvinistic land

In Rawalpindi she rides on a pinnacle of victory

Twice Benazir is elected Prime Minister

Her love for Pakistan people never more passionate

Fatherless brother-less she is never alone

Her faith in the oppressed never more firm

The rich in wisdom and or wealth seek her

The earth trembles with the love of thousands

The poor in worship and penury follow her

Her human brain defeated, her heart victorious

In power or powerless at home or exile

Benazir must salute, must salute on the Twenty Seventh of

Benazir has home in Punjab Sindh The Frontier

December 2007

Baluchistan and Kashmir

Death her companion since her father's death

No other politician can achieve such presences

Benazir salutes

Exiled she still meets the high and mighty of the world

In maturity she grasps Eternity

Nourishes her fearless ambition and wilt for Democracy

Cry The Beloved Country

In her fifty fourth years she plunges into destiny

CRY

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I N D U S

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The Story
of Benazir
from
Marvi of Malir
Shah Latif by Benazir Bhutto
When the world was still to be born
When Adam was still to receive his form
Then my relationship began
When I heard the Lord's voice
A voice sweet and clear
I said "yes" with all my heart
And formed a bond with the land I love
When all of us were one
My bond then began

I N D U S

An exile now by destiny

I am nearer home than my heart's beat
I wonder: when will I be free
To return to Larkana
From dust to dust
Loved ones return
To what they were
When will I walk home from Arab lands
To my own sweet Motherland.
Waiting for news in dreams and day
Waiting for messengers in dreams and day
When will the message come
Taking me from here to there
I want the answer to my heart
I want to pass God's test
O God, I await the messenger
Taking me to where I belong
Although the tyrants do not care
Strands of white my hair now shows
My face is gaunt with sadness
I to my people want to go
I came in the winter of repression
I pray to return in different times
Like the joy of a seasonal rain
The peoples support I will reclaim.
Almighty God,

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Let Mother's sickness not worsen in exile

Trapped in a mind wanting to forget
A heart weeping for young sons killed
O let Mother first her homeland see
O where is my husband gone?
His life's prime and his grace?
Prison Walls confine him
Court rooms frustrate him
Judges are frightened
Courage has fled
Salaries are more important
Than honour for which men gave lives
Pakistan, my health is worn
My joy is gone
And yet my heart is strong
For the fight
For our people lost rights
Each day I smile for the world,
For my children and my self
They ask: when can we return?
I speak of justice fled
From hearts of men
Into the breasts of beasts
I tell them
We will smile and we will eat
When freedom from chains is freed
I think of the poor people

I N D U S

Q U E E N

A better fate they deserve

Than the military conqueror's boots
Yet the lust for land grows
Plazas and Plots for the elite lot
Government homes too
Not one but two
All on starving backs of people robbed
The sweet lands lie parched
For water people pray
The crops perish
The cattle die
The stoves grow cold
As labour is sent home
Fair Pakistan's face is blotted
Mug shots and finger prints are demanded
Worshippers live in fear and dread
Tenants are ejected
Soldiers in snows abandoned
The poets in the mountains and the deserts
Speak of another time
When the country and the individual had
respect
Before the Benazir Government left
One pension is too little for some
One state, two jobs, two salaries and two
pensions
For retired Khaki specials
Democracy is for those in Mufti

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Dictatorship the dream of Generals in Khaki

The British left last century
Their space the Khaki filled
The Father died too quickly
In an ambulance in Karachi
One day the tyrants will depart
Public opinion will set us free
There will be dancing in the streets,
Music and song
Laughter will fill the air
As people rejoice in their destiny
Larkana, Loved-one, I remember
The sweet scent of roses
Of fresh rain on desert sand
Of trees washed by nature's hand
Away I live in a mansion grand
But I long to campaign
On long and rocky roads
In bumpy jeep rides
With flags and banners
With selfless zeal to change
The sad present
Into a smiling future
I want to breathe the breath
Of home,
a breath both fair and fine
My spirit is in one place
My body in another
My mind torn asunder

I N D U S

The Elections were so Unfair

Made of Broken Promises
Billions spent in marketing
A dictatorship as a democracy
That too unsuccessfully.
The European Union called Foul
So did the Office of the Commonwealth
Boxes were filled
Ballots torn
Peoples verdict shorn
By cowards masquerading as patriots
The presidential palace is ugly
In a land with widespread poverty
Parliament has yet to dress itself
With Constitutional power
The phoenix rises from the ashes
Peoples Power will be born again
Centres of learning
I will build for the children of the poor
Provide the aged and the young
Dignity, hope and security
We will raise buildings
Where there are deserts
And stop the weeping of the women of
the land
Cry not
For change is in our hands
To reject wrong and embrace right

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These days of despots will soon go

Just as other despots did
Memory forever recalls Quaid e Awam
The sword of truth
Who gave his life
So we could live
With legal rights and economic security
With knowledge and Opportunity
With representation and success
With peace and with progress
His name will forever shine
Who can forget him
That historical memory embraces
Forever in its folds.
He who wore threads of fine gold
Tore them for prison cells
He who slept in silken sheets and fed with
silver spoons
Threw them aside for the darkness of the
death cell
Defying death
The rulers offer comfort
In return they demand conscience
Don't offer comfort
To history's children
To the brave and the bold
The Kurds fought for decades
The Kashmiris do too

6 I N D U S

The Palestinians refused to surrender

In every continent
In every era
The brave and the bold
Carved history with their bare hands
One has might
The other right

One has the sword

The other the pen
Guns rust and fall apart
Ideas live forever
Tyrant: do not offer comfort
Comfort leaves me cold
Much dearer do I hold

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Marvi's ancestral shawl

Symbol of our Treasure
From Marvi I learnt
From past mystic saints
From my dear brother Shah I learnt
That handsome youth who fought another tyrant
That
Were I to breathe my last, living
Away from the home I loved
My body won't imprison me.
Shah returned home while his soul went free

No stranger to the soil

Embracing his body in death
Making it part of the legends of our land
When his last breath came
We carried him to the hidden coolness of the desert sand
Pride and sadness mixed in our hearts
Swaying emotions
Knowing that his life was given
For a clear cause of liberation
From a Dictator's occupation
We buried him lovingly

I N D U S

In the land that was his

In a sea of people
That loved him
For his life
And for his death
Killed and yet the struggle lived
The cranes fly to their native hills

My heart longs to fly with them

Invisible chains
Hold me prisoner
The wounds of the past
Fester again
For my country and me
As I see people denied rights

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Denied opportunities
Youth looking for hope
Democracy separated from the polity
Dictatorship cuts cruelly to the bone
Undermining the economy
Undermining the society
Introducing suicide
Economic suicide for those too poor to live
Political suicide for asymmetric warfare
Joy left when the stove turned cold
Joy fled when the church and hospital blew
Some sent messages
To forget about politics
To leave the people
To find happiness
They thought it foolish
That the weight of persecution
Could be borne
With a Mother ill
And children small
With the pain of exile
Of a husband separated by prison walls.
They thought it generous
To offer freedom for abandonment
The abandonment of a people, of a land
Of a struggle, of a dream
Of principles and of conscience
I thought it wrong

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I know I will return

On a wave of peoples support
Led by the bravest Party of them all
A Party of martyrs
A Party of struggle
A Party that serves
A Party of the people
My enemies wish I never was born
For them it was a torture and a shame
That I became
The first woman leader of a Muslim State
Crumbling centuries of control
Triumphantly proclaiming
The equality of men and women
The pristine message of Islam
Hidden under prejudice and discrimination
Destiny's hand moves on
Writing its own tale
Of triumph and tragedies,
Of wars and peace,
Of bombs pulverising houses
Above the stench of death
Life begins again
The tide of sorrow turns
The sea of happiness awaits
The patient pray and persevere
Loved ones parted meet

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Prisoners are freed

Fresh ones take their places
Or flee
Destiny's moving finger writes on
Seasons change
Realities change
The rest is a test
Better a life of test
Than a worthless life of rest
The land reclaims its own
When the dead die
They live again
Becoming part of a land
Centuries old
Holding secrets
Of great civilisations
Of heroes and heroines of bygone times
Shaping history and heritage
Shaping culture
Shaping the future
Time begins
Time ends
We decide
What to do with time
Remember the poor and the wretched
Remember the desperate and the hopeful
Remember God's sacred trust
The children of the land

I N D U S

Do not let your conscience die

For Power and Pride
The scent of the homeland
Wafts through the ocean air
Through continents
Its insistent call
A reverberating sound
Through sunset and dawn
Calling
Through walls
Calling
Through mountains
Seeking to reclaim
Its own
To my dear ones I say
Worry not
Shed no tears
Bear no regrets
These days will pass
After night comes day
After sorrow comes joy
The daughters of the desert know
That Destiny
Cannot Chain
The dream of a people free
Of a youth redeemed
Of a land
Where the sweet scent of justice

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Fills the air

Where human rights
And economic rights
Break the prisons of poverty
Break the dungeons of disease
The repression of retrenchment
The despair of downsizing
The evil of unemployment
Prisons hold
Those that defy dictators
Those that pay the price for freedom
Knowing the chains holding liberty will break
That the desert men
Will write of desert courage
Of integrity, loyalty and unity
Baptised in suffering
That a desert maid
Will return home
Hear the wind
It carries the message:
Of dictators that came and went
Of tyrants now particles in the sands of times
How many armies came and went
How much blood was shed
Conquests proclaimed
Kingdoms fell; Tyrants too
The desert sands speak
The desert winds whisper

I N D U S

Truth will triumph

The desert maid will return
Travellers travel bringing news
Of political developments,
I hear of miseries
Of families without income
Of fear of hunger
I hear
And my own suffering retreats
Days pass
Life passes
I am shackled
To the dream of democracy
Unhappy are the days
Far from Malir and Multan
Far from Mardan and Makran
My countrymen are far
No one can reproach them
For they stand strong
As the October elections showed
One day I will recall these days
And forget the pain
One day I will recall these days
When political storms roared
When thundering threats filled the air
One day I will recall these days
Knowing my commitment to my land
Was purified and sustained.

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I think of those exiled

from their homelands
In Los Angeles, London, Dubai
Of the days they pass
Some in despair,
Some in frustration
Some with determination
The seasons change
My face with them
Theirs too
Will my fellow villagers recognise
A face
Reflecting the seasons of fate
Night falls
The world sleeps
Darkness fills the air
I raise both my hands
And ask my children
To raise their little hands
Marvi, of Maru and Malir,
In the mists of time
She raised her hands
While the world slept
To God
Full of hope
Praying to see her homeland
Marvi,
We raise our hands

I N D U S

As you raised yours

To God
In hope
For the homeland
I was born in
Buried my Father
Buried my brother
Married
Had my children
Served a Nation
Helped a people
Without telephone or electricity
Computers or emails
Polio drops or iodine
Enter the modern age
But the bullets were fired
Piercing my tall and handsome Brother
His precious blood on the pavement fell
Where once we walked
The angels came
And took him away
To my Father and my Brother
As the Martyrs watched
In July we met
His warm embrace I recall
In the chandeliered Prime Minister's Hall
His special goodbye as he left
His voice on the phone

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When we talked
As family members do
The phone came
It spoke of bullets fired
Of Murtaza wounded
I took a plane
With Holy Book in Hand
To the Hospital where he lay
God, do not take
The brother that I love
It was too late
He was gone

Again I buried a brother

The killers buried the Government
Husband was imprisoned
Tiny children exiled
With ailing grandmother
Midnight raids and imprisonment
Torture and terror
Perjury and Perversion
Billions spent on false cases
On propaganda
Psy war and special operations
On a Mother

I N D U S

Courts cal liberated

With different orders
Caught flights daily
From one to the other
Lahore to Rawalpindi
Then to Karachi
The persecutors fell
In divine retribution
The military marched In
Hear the wind
It carries the sound
Of horses that galloped
Of caravans that came
Of tanks that rumbled
Of planes that flew
Before the torch of time
Was passed
As history's pendulum swung
The desert wind calls
Marvi calls
A timeless call
A call
The desert wind carries.
Children: Hear the desert wind
Hear it whisper
Have faith
We will win.

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A devi, A queen
You Had been
The hope of everyone
History will record
Benazir was one
Oh Mother of future Pakistan
Your memories will live
Till last human on earth
By Roshni Suviii