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Tuesday, April 6, 2010


Urdu Section
06 Apr 2010, NewAgeIslam.Com
CONGRATULATIONS, Martyr Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto!!!


As soon as we alighted from the lift, drops of rain fell on our bluish raincoats. We were standing on the wall which was spread across hundreds of miles like a ferocious cobra and whose foundation was laid on the dust of bones of thousands of human beings.
This wall of China and the pyramids of Egypt which were associated with the names of the emperors of China and the pharaohs of Egypt were built with the blood of millions of farmers and slaves. We stood dumbfounded and looked at the valleys and hills which were far far away. That moment I had seen Mr Abdullah and Mr Malik take off their glasses and wipe off tears. There was surprise and question in my eyes. Mr Malik said, "He remained unmoved like this wall. He was born to free the farmers and slaves but the tyrants hanged him." -- Zahida Hina, Karachi




CONGRATULATIONS, Martyr Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto!!!

By Zahida Hena, Karachi
(Translated from Urdu by Sohail Arshad)
As soon as we alighted from the lift, drops of rain fell on our bluish raincoats. We were standing on the wall which was spread across hundreds of miles like a ferocious cobra and whose foundation was laid on the dust of bones of thousands of human beings.
This wall of China and the pyramids of Egypt which were associated with the names of the emperors of China and the pharaohs of Egypt were built with the blood of millions of farmers and slaves. We stood dumbfounded and looked at the valleys and hills which were far far away. That moment I had seen Mr Abdullah and Mr Malik take off their glasses and wipe off tears. There was surprise and question in my eyes. Mr Malik said, "He remained unmoved like this wall. He was born to free the farmers and slaves but the tyrants hanged him."
He was remembering Bhutto. During this 15-day tour, he had talked about the China of Mao and Chu en Li and the friendship of Pakistan and China with reference to Mr Bhutto a number of times. China of Mao was the realisation of his childhood dream a reflection of which he was trying to see in 1998. And Bhutto was the person who had lent a new direction, a new hue to the China-Pakistan friendship and had given the power of voice to the voiceless with the kind of his politics.
Malik Sahib was one of those who were admirers of Bhutto, who had suffered Zia-gardi. He had documented the last moments of Bhutto inside the prison:
How black the night was
The eyes could see nothing
The story was repeated the very night
It was penned in the darkness of night
The night when they took you to the altar
You were tired, subdued
But not deterred
You ascended the altar
With a smile on your face
They were happy
And content
They thought they defeated you
Your last words were lost in their moment of joy
You had said
It's they who are ascending the altar, not me
It's they who are dying, not me
I have achieved immortality.
Bhutto was hanged and became immortal. Many among those who got lashes, were dumped in jails, swallowed humiliations and were exiled are still alive, many have died. These people did not see any difference between the tyranny of Nadir Shah and Zia. In the 18th century, the army of Nadir Shah had unleashed a reign of terror from Delhi to Lahore.
In the second half of the 20the century the whole body and soul of the country went through the tortures of Zia's military dictatorship. There were many writers who had refused to put down their pens. They wrote and wrote. Across the length and breadth of the country there was a caravan of undaunted writers. Pamphlets and magazines were being published and circulated in every city, in every street and were being seized. The censorship was doing its work and the writers were doing theirs and paying the price too.
 On the other hand, in the shadow of Bhutto's impending death, a lavish banquet was arranged in the presidential hall on April 11, and hundreds registered their presence there. On April 14, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto son of Shah Nawaz Bhutto was not hanged but it was justice who was hanged. The soil of Nawdera had embraced her son affectionately and had also dug the graves of the usurpers, the ruling elite. This grave has been waiting for the last 31 years and now an independent judiciary is going to bury an unbridled and corrupt despotism who hangs intellectual politicians like Bhutto and polishes the shoes of dictators, in that grave.
 Britain has ruled this region directly and indirectly for centuries. Our generals joined their army. I wish if they had remembered their master, their prime minister and the victor of Second World War, Winston Churchill's words:" Dabbling in politics could be fatal for soldiers because in this way they tread on such a path whose values are quite different than those they have been familiar with."
If we had had kept the words in our mind, we would not have ended up in the vise of dictatorship as early as in 1958. We would have been living in an independent and sovereign state; our country would not have split into two. Our history would not have had the 'honour' of our 90 thousand soldiers surrendering, our towns and cities would not have been hijacked by terrorists, our sovereignty would not have been pledged to Washington and our people would not have been condemned to live with poverty, unemployment, diseases and illiteracy.
Bhutto had written in " My Pakistan": I think that the place of the mullah is in the mosque, you want to make him the master of your fate; I have  faith in the Constitution and you consider it a mere piece of paper; I am a flag-bearer of the freedom of women, you want to wrap them up in the cover of darkness.".....
Congratulations to Bhutto, the architect of the Constitution of 1973 that when on April 14, 2010 tons of flowers will be laid on his grave, the insult meted out the Constitution of 1973 will reach its culmination. A broadminded and conscientious man called Reza Rabbani and a confident woman called Fahmida Reyaz, who is the custodian of the Pakistani Parliament, will come to present the 18th amendment of the Constitution, a colourful bouquet of political unity. The paper has the signatures of all the political parties of Pakistan. This document reminds us of the fact that ultimately dictators are defeated, their shameful lust of power has to retreat. Democratic politics has the last laugh.



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