Supporting
the Wrong Horse
By Col. Riaz Jafri
(Retd.)
Westridge, Rawalpindi
US Foreign Policy experts are
once again backing a wrong horse in Pakistan.
This time openly instead of doing it covertly.
Musharraf is being pressured for power sharing
with BB and to accommodate her all demands. Ostensibly,
it is being done with a view to creating an alternate
basket to put their eggs into instead of placing
them all in Musharraf’s basket. However,
what the Anglo-Americans are not realizing is
that by doing so they are buying the ill will
of the Pakistanis. Benazir and her husband have
been allegedly the worst ever looters and plunderers
of the national wealth of Pakistan. BB is, therefore,
regarded a corrupt ruler having stashed about
US$ 1.5 billion in foreign banks. And, as far
as her being a democrat in concerned, suffice
it to say, she doesn’t enjoy that image
either. In fact she is reputed to be an autocrat
of the order who would not tolerate even her own
mother who was made the Chairperson of the party
after the death of her husband – Zulfiqar
Ali Bhutto (ZAB) - the founder of the PPP.
Benazir first manoeuvred to share the Chair with
the mother but soon engineered her ouster ignominiously
getting herself installed as the Life Chairperson
of the party. What a democrat – the ‘life
long Chairperson’ of the party. A party
that has NEVER held its party elections since
its inception – 40 years ago! The poor mother
is invalid and hospitalised for the last many
years in London and hardly any one in the public
knows of her present plight. Though BB has been
to London umpteen times but one has never heard
of her visiting the bed ridden mother there. Probably
her only fault was that she wished to pass the
ZAB mantle in the Eastern tradition to the male
heir, the eldest son Murtaza Ali Bhutto and BB
has not forgotten it to this day. Murtaza Bhutto
was murdered under mysterious circumstances in
police firing near his house in Karachi when Benazir
herself was the Prime Minister of the country.
Murtaza’s widow Ghinwa and daughter Fatima
allegedly point their fingers towards BB and her
husband for the dastardly crime and an FIR to
this effect is pending with the Karachi police
against the husband Mr. Asif Ali Zardari.
The Life Chairperson rules the party with an iron
hand and no one, including the founding fathers
of the party, dare do anything without her explicit
prior permission. Quite a few disillusioned stalwarts
have left the party and only recently the two
most important and very senior members of the
party, the ex-Governor Punjab Mustafa Khar whom
ZAB used to call his son and heir apparent in
preference to his real sons, and General (Retd)
Naseer ullah Khan Babur who was a staunch supporter
of BB and was her Interior Minister, have left
the party only a few days ago. They parted ways
with BB owing to her deal with a military dictator
which, according to them, has tarnished the image
of the party, compromised its principles, betrayed
workers and their long arduous struggle for the
restoration of democracy. They allege that only
Benazir and her husband have gained from the deal
which absolves them of all corruption charges
and provides for withdrawal of court cases against
them in Pakistan, Switzerland etc. She doesn’t
seem to be much perturbed by such desertions in
the party as nothing matters to her except her
own self-interest. She is shrewd, an eloquent
speaker, and knows the art of winning the hearts
of the naïve and gullible masses even with
her hollow promises. Not only that, she can have
her way in the international political arena as
well. Though her influencing the Americans is
understandable yet, her winning over the British
- respected the world over for their mature and
far reaching policies - is rather amusing. Such
is her spell that both are openly pressuring Musharraf
for sharing power with her.
What baffles most here is as to what is the compulsion
for General Musharraf to yield to such pressures
and shake hands with the most corrupt politician
who is known to have plundered the national exchequer
of at least 1.5 billion dollars?!
A very common perception prevailing in Pakistan
is that the UK and the USA governments think that
she would be able to help eradicate extremism
and restore full democracy in Pakistan . What
they don’t realize it that by thrusting
upon the nation an allegedly corrupt of the order
of Benazir, they are antagonising the people further
to the extent that they are losing the support
of even the moderates along with the religious
parties, who have already no love lost for them.
On top of it all, BB has made the blunder of issuing
statements that she will handover AQ Khan to the
IAEA for questioning and permit the NATO and US
forces to bomb the tribal areas, if required,
etc. etc. This has left little doubt in the mind
of the general public as to whose agenda she is
carrying and shall follow and implement if elected
to power and installed as the PM for the third
time. This general perception is not only damaging
the Americans and the British in Pakistan but
also increasing the popular support in favour
of the Islamists who are generally considered
to be aligned with the Jihadis and extremists.
Such a situation is not only detrimental for the
Anglo-Americans but highly fraught with dangers
for Pakistan itself. It is time that our western
benefactors, if they wish well for Pakistan ,
pull their hands off from supporting Benazir as
their support for her is having a negative effect
in Pakistan .
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