Video blog: Fatima vs Bilawal Bhutto – a brighter future?
This video addresses the two bright youngsters of the Bhutto family, Fatima Bhutto and Bilawal Bhutto. Filmed in a way that encourages comparison, the imperative question asked is which one of the two could lead Pakistan to a better future. The name Bhutto is, most definitely, one that is familiar to each and every Pakistani. With Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, the Chairman of the PPP, emerged a family that would continue to play a strong role in Pakistani politics. Even though three of his four children were murdered, Fatima Bhutto and Bilawal Bhutto are continuing to carry the family legacy of an active ...
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Fatima Bhutto and her songs of blood, sword and fairytales
She was beautiful. She was eloquent. She was vivid, and witty. Yet while orating at the Sydney Writers’ Festival Fatima Bhutto also managed to be naïve, hollow and juvenile. Seemingly, the trauma of her beloved father’s death has not left her and this, unfortunately, has become an indistinguishable part of her personality – to discuss her experiences while speculating about national issues. Her recent speech clearly epitomises the emblem of her book, “Songs of Blood and Sword,” published in April, 2010, that is, selective amnesia and fiction in the absence of fact. Her speech starts with the popular state propagated narrative of politician ...
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ZAB case: Pros and cons
After hearing the case and upholding an earlier verdict of the Lahore High Court in the Mukhtaran Mai case, the Supreme Court will hear the Zulfikar Ali Bhutto reference case and it will be a historic moment. I say historic because it will measure the Pakistan Peoples Party’s success in helping set the record straight. An iconic leader, the first democratically-elected prime minister and founder of the PPP, Mr Bhutto was and still is revered by many. Maybe this is why setting the record straight becomes even more important. The party followers will literally dance and revel in joy if the ...
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Not everyone who dies tragically is a ‘shaheed’
In Pakistan the suffix shaheed is frequently used for politicians, scholars, journalists, armed forces personnel and even militants depending upon how people or the media conceives that person. The use of the word shaheed is indeed another gift of Zia’s era when martyrdom was glorified during the Afghan war. Our armed forces have been engaged in conflict against militants since 2004. These militants claim that the killing of innocent Muslims, mostly women and children, doesn’t make soldiers martyrs and, that in fact they are wajib-ul-qatal (punishable by murder) for this offence. So a militant is considered a shaheed among his ...
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Can we please rename Gaddafi Stadium now?
It is difficult for a Karachiite to admit, but there is no more iconic a cricket ground in Pakistan than a certain large, red-brick stadium in Lahore. Gaddafi Stadium is the home of the Pakistan Cricket Board and the site of the final of the 1996 World Cup for a reason: it is simply the best that Pakistan cricket has to offer. So why is it named after a brutal Arab dictator? It was not always so. When the stadium first opened its doors in 1959, it was simply known as Lahore Stadium, which makes sense since it is a ...
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Understanding how Benazir was immortalised
On the evening of December 27, 2007, we edged along the crowded Shahrah-e-Faisal road in Karachi. A cold winter breeze drifted in from a car window that had been left open for ventilation. Air-conditioners were a redundant luxury now that the temperature had plummeted to a cold extreme. And yet, there was a strong undercurrent of political friction that constantly reminded us that we were living through an era of sweeping changes. There was a flood-tide of expectations from the forthcoming elections. Optimism was virtually a non-entity as suspicion governed thought-processes. Many judicious observers had gone to the extent of stating ...
Read Full PostMusharraf’s vain rhetoric
On October 1st the former president of Pakistan General (retd) Pervez Musharraf launched his political party ‘All Pakistan Muslim League’. According to him his 300,000 fans gave him the strength to return to Pakistan. Musharraf while talking to media apologized for his mistakes that he made in the last years of his rule. He launched his party in London, which on first instance gave an impression as he was planning to run his political business from overseas like a self-exiled MQM leader, Altaf Hussain. Musharraf asserted that due to threats to his life he couldn’t hold the launch in ...
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(Not so) Islamic land reforms
There is no doubt that agriculture is the backbone of Pakistan. Forty three per cent of our labor force depends on it for its livelihood and it constitutes a sizable portion of our GDP and exports. We have often heard that land reforms are desperately needed and how they hold the key to unleashing our agricultural potential and will play an important role in raising the living standards of the poor of our nation. The argument could not be more right. The last time an effort was made to rock the boat was by Ayub ...
Read Full PostThe Bilawal we do not know
Early on Bilawal Bhutto Zardari refuted intentions that he would enter politics, yet this young scion of Pakistan’s landed gentry has, paradoxically, been striving to establish political recognition. Whether this entails telephone conversations with PM Gilani about the current situation in Pakistan or addressing a community of altruistic Pakistani expatriates in Dubai, Bilawal seems to be attempting to develop a political identity equivalent to that of his mother. But can he? In her contentious memoir, Daughter of the East, Benazir Bhutto alludes to Bilawal as ‘the most celebrated and politically controversial baby in the history of Pakistan’. Although politics is a hereditary business ...
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A building for Bhutto: A monumental mistake
Is our leadership foolish or do they simply enjoy poking the nation every now and then? A monument for Benazir would have been a good idea, had there been no floods! As the millions affected by the flood await help and support, our leaders have been going around gathering funds from around the globe. While the initial aid received will help the government support the affected people on an emergency basis, billions of dollars are required to get Pakistan up and running. While we receive international money and continue to ask for more, there was an urgent need to pay our ...
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