Wherever you look I will be there in a yesterday.
Whatever you read, you will see me in a yesterday.
Tomorrows are for the Divine to sort
I've laid down my life today
So that you find me, in every yesterday.
History repeats itself, so they say
I have made one for myself today.
Freedom is never cheap.
It's costed us our lives and peace
Our names will now be in gold
I've won back the pride they said was no more.
Today when I see you cry
I sense a twinkle in my eye
I am the yesterday you denied
I will be in every yesterday for the rest of your life.
(Ode to Benzair Bhutto: 1953-2007; Assasinated on Dec 27, 2007 at Rawalpindi)
Sunday, December 30, 2007
Saturday, December 29, 2007
Replay 1979
RAWALPINIDI, April 4, 1979: Former Prime Minister, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto is hanged ending a long struggle of the democratic vs. military rule. Despite repeated requests from international quarters to the General (Zia) for releasing Bhutto and ordering an exile instead, the General went ahead with his plan of action. He feared him; feared people's power.
Pakistan braced itself for yet another Martial law till the General went down and enter Benazir Bhutto for the first democratic elections in the country's history since the Zia regime.
This post is not about appreciating the Bhutto's. There are enough allegations, corruption charges on the family and more recently on Benzair and husband Asif Zardari that also dampened her public image. But in all honesty let's admit that there was no other figure, besides Benazir, which was accept from Karachi to Khyber. The most secular face, accepted and respected internationally.
Daily Times featured the global listing of 33 most influential women in the world on December 27, 2007 (incidentally the same day BB was assinated). BB was no.2 in the list, right after Hillary Clinton. The reaction of the international community has been such that was last witnessed when her late father was hanged.
Dynamic leaders such as Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto and to some degree Benazir Bhutto are born once in a country's 100 years history. It's a fact that only BB was brave enough to face the risks that were involved in her coming to Pakistan and contesting the elections. It was a General that killed her father; eventually it was another General that took her down - cowardly.
They're debating who killed her?
Denying reports that she died of gun-shots, featuring well scripted teleconversations between the alleged assasins, and what not over the television right now. They will go on doing this for the next weeks I suppose. That is precisely what the state does every time they have blood on their hands. We still do not know who killed Liaquat Ali or more recently the force involved behined the Oct 18 or May 12 killings in Karachi.
The truth is we will never know.
The country is at the brink of civil disorder. A theory suggests that the circumstances are being created for a smooth imposition of Martial law. People of this country are sad, angry, uncertain and quite honestly frustrated.
For the die hard PPP supporters across the country, particularly Sindh (home of the Bhuttos), this is an irreplaceable loss. Watching the funeral procession on TV (thank God for cable TV) it was clear that it was the poor people who had driven from far off places on their tractors, walked miles to pay their last respects to the leader they knew as hope, called Benazir.
You can hate her for not meeting all of your expectations when she was in power twice. You can list down the corruption charges and label her a corrupt leader. What you cannot ignore is that she has laid down her life for the purpose she believed in. The purpose that was ignited when ZAB was hanged. The purpose her entire family has paid the price for. The purpose of making Pakistan a moderate and progressive state.
The US have their Kennedy's, India has Gandhi's and Pakistan today has Bhutto's. Well-educated, enlightened and visionary families which believed there was a greater cause in their lives. Pakistani politics has never been about 'open, fair and diplomatic dialogues. It's 'bloody, dirty and might is right. As much as we want a stable government in place, the country's has been plagued with mullahs, fuedals and the military. Perhaps something we inherited back in 1947 and have never been able to shrug off.
What next for Pakistan? That's what's posted on cnn.com, bbcworld.com, washingtonpost.com, hindustantimes.com and many others. In all honesty, I don't know. There is only one thing I am sure of. Violence. More violence. Daily Times featured the best headline visuals of violence across the city.Its going to be another blood bath as we gear up for elections.
My father often spoke of such riot-breaking in the country. 10 years ago I would laugh at what he would say. But if I look back in the last 3 years most of the socio-policitcal changes I have witnessed within and outside Pakistan have been just as he had predicted.
Its Day 2 since BB's burial and we're still not sure what to expect next. It's a tragic, untimely and irreplaceable loss for Pakistan. A political voice has been silenced and the people of the country have been left on their own once again to brace whatever is thrown at them by the military dictatorship.
Pakistan braced itself for yet another Martial law till the General went down and enter Benazir Bhutto for the first democratic elections in the country's history since the Zia regime.
This post is not about appreciating the Bhutto's. There are enough allegations, corruption charges on the family and more recently on Benzair and husband Asif Zardari that also dampened her public image. But in all honesty let's admit that there was no other figure, besides Benazir, which was accept from Karachi to Khyber. The most secular face, accepted and respected internationally.
Daily Times featured the global listing of 33 most influential women in the world on December 27, 2007 (incidentally the same day BB was assinated). BB was no.2 in the list, right after Hillary Clinton. The reaction of the international community has been such that was last witnessed when her late father was hanged.
Dynamic leaders such as Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto and to some degree Benazir Bhutto are born once in a country's 100 years history. It's a fact that only BB was brave enough to face the risks that were involved in her coming to Pakistan and contesting the elections. It was a General that killed her father; eventually it was another General that took her down - cowardly.
They're debating who killed her?
Denying reports that she died of gun-shots, featuring well scripted teleconversations between the alleged assasins, and what not over the television right now. They will go on doing this for the next weeks I suppose. That is precisely what the state does every time they have blood on their hands. We still do not know who killed Liaquat Ali or more recently the force involved behined the Oct 18 or May 12 killings in Karachi.
The truth is we will never know.
The country is at the brink of civil disorder. A theory suggests that the circumstances are being created for a smooth imposition of Martial law. People of this country are sad, angry, uncertain and quite honestly frustrated.
For the die hard PPP supporters across the country, particularly Sindh (home of the Bhuttos), this is an irreplaceable loss. Watching the funeral procession on TV (thank God for cable TV) it was clear that it was the poor people who had driven from far off places on their tractors, walked miles to pay their last respects to the leader they knew as hope, called Benazir.
You can hate her for not meeting all of your expectations when she was in power twice. You can list down the corruption charges and label her a corrupt leader. What you cannot ignore is that she has laid down her life for the purpose she believed in. The purpose that was ignited when ZAB was hanged. The purpose her entire family has paid the price for. The purpose of making Pakistan a moderate and progressive state.
The US have their Kennedy's, India has Gandhi's and Pakistan today has Bhutto's. Well-educated, enlightened and visionary families which believed there was a greater cause in their lives. Pakistani politics has never been about 'open, fair and diplomatic dialogues. It's 'bloody, dirty and might is right. As much as we want a stable government in place, the country's has been plagued with mullahs, fuedals and the military. Perhaps something we inherited back in 1947 and have never been able to shrug off.
What next for Pakistan? That's what's posted on cnn.com, bbcworld.com, washingtonpost.com, hindustantimes.com and many others. In all honesty, I don't know. There is only one thing I am sure of. Violence. More violence. Daily Times featured the best headline visuals of violence across the city.Its going to be another blood bath as we gear up for elections.
My father often spoke of such riot-breaking in the country. 10 years ago I would laugh at what he would say. But if I look back in the last 3 years most of the socio-policitcal changes I have witnessed within and outside Pakistan have been just as he had predicted.
Its Day 2 since BB's burial and we're still not sure what to expect next. It's a tragic, untimely and irreplaceable loss for Pakistan. A political voice has been silenced and the people of the country have been left on their own once again to brace whatever is thrown at them by the military dictatorship.
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