Remembering ZAB

IT is ironic that Zulfikar Ali Bhutto's 30th anniversary should coincide with the arrival of a three-member UN team in Pakistan associated with the probe of Benazir Bhutto's assassination. While those responsible for what is often termed the judicial murder are long dead and gone, those who killed Ms Bhutto still remain untraced despite the PPP being in power for more than a year.
While Bhutto was inducted into politics by Iskander Mirza and patronized by the dictator Ayub Khan, the high point in his career came when he led the struggle for democracy after 1966 in what was then called West Pakistan. Despite his feudal background and elitist educational career, he understood the aspirations of the masses and decided to lead them against the dictator who had ruled the country since 1958 with an iron hand and whose "green revolution", "trickle-down" economy and "decade of progress" had multiplied the common man's problems on account of the rising unemployment, shortages, and inflation. The PPP attracted the youth, women, minorities, working class and the lower middle class, who enthusiastically responded to his slogan of roti kapra aur makan. Bhutto's contribution, after assuming power, includes the repatriation of thousands of prisoners of war from India, a consensus constitution, and a rehabilitation of confidence that had been shattered by the break-up of the country. For this Bhutto convened the Islamic Summit in Lahore. Under him, Pakistan had its own steel mill. He also initiated Pakistan's nuclear programme that led to the country later becoming a nuclear power.