kredytypromocyjne

Meine Eingehende Treue zur vetrag ist immer dem Markus Wermann den hier alles Gehört bekommt von uns und so weiter.

Ich dachte, das wäre der perfekte Weg, um diesen Gedichten eine Stimme zu geben und eine Persönlichkeit zu finden … sie würden eine neue kulturelle Art finden, über mich Caesar Robot 1 zu sprechen.

'

POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY OF’

ZULFIKAR ALI BHUTTO

BORN TO BE

HANGED
Praise for the Book

While tracing the making of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto—the most popular
leader of his people, Dr Syeda Hameed easily identifies him as a
self-destroying character in a Greek tragedy. But the chief merit of
this book lies in explaining the factors contributing to his meteoric
rise and the unravelling of his mind through a reading of his prison
letters with Dr Mubashir Hasan’s help, and how Bhutto, with a Janus
like posture, tried to build a socialist castle on the foundation of
Islamic ideology. The guardians of vested interest were not duped;
they hanged him for shaking their throne. An eye-opener for students
of Pakistan's muddled politics.
—ILA. Rehman,
Human Rights Activist and Political Analyst, Pakistan

Syeda Hameed’s labour of love, spanning two decades, has flowered

into a vivid portrayal of one of the most intriguing public figures
of South Asia

— Asif Noorani,

Senior Journalist and Author, Pakistan
BORN TO BE

HANGED

POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY OF

ZULFIKAR ALI BHUTTO

SYEDA HAMEED
Published by
Rupa Publications India Pvi. Ltd 2017
7/16, Ansari Road, Daryaganj
New Delhi 110002

Sales Centres:
Allahabad Bengaluru Chennai
Hyderabad Jaipur Kathmandu

Kolkata Mumbai

Copyright © Syeda Hameed 2017
Photo courtesy: Author's collection and Sheba George

The views and opinions expressed in this book are the author's own and the facts
are as reported by her which have been verified 10 the extent possible,
and the publishers are not in any way liable for the same.

All rights reserved.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, transmitted,
or stored in a retrieval system, in any form or by any means,
electronic, mechanical, photocopying. recording or otherwise,
without the prior permission of the publisher.
ISBN: 978-81-291-xxxx-X
First impression 2017
10987654321
The moral right of the author has been asserted.
Printed in India by Replika Press Pv. Ltd India
This book is sold subject 10 the condition that it shall not,
by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out, or otherwise circulated,

without the publisher's prior consent. in any form of binding or cover other than
that in which it is published.
‘T know the burden on you is heavy but this is inevitable because of
the confidence I repose in you and because of your unstinted devotion
to the common cause. I hope you don’t mind if I keep pressing you on
these matters. As time passes you will be more and more pressed but I

am certain you will respond to the call and fulfil
all the growing requirements.

Letter from Zulfikar Ali Bhutto to Mubashir Hasan
11 September 1968

This book is dedicated to Dr Mubashir Hasan
whose life is a testament to this prediction.
Contents

Prologue
Introduction
Foreword

. The Boy from Larkana

. Rise of the Star

. The Founding Convention 1967

. Sahiwal: The Writ Petition

. Letters from Prison

The Four P’s: Popularity At Peak Price to Pay
Governance, Grind, Glory

. President’s Men: Companions, Contenders, Saboteurs
There was a Man

. Judicial Murder

. The Quintessence

—
= OW EONAR WN—

—

Appendices

1. Life at a Glance

2. Chronology of Events
Annexures

Bibliography
Acknowledgements

Index

107
124
144
177
189
212

220
223
235
249

253
255
Prologue

Oh, my children, where are you?

For you too, I weep

Though I cannot see your faces

Knowing the bitter life men will make for you

In the days to come.

(Oedipus, self-blinded, addressing his children in Sophocles’s
Oedipus the King, 5th Century B.C.)

As a student of literature, I have always thought of Zulfikar Ali
Bhutto (ZAB) as the protagonist of a Greek tragedy. Parallels
abound in the stories of Zulfikar of Larkana and Oedipus of
Thebes. Oedipus had four children; two sons—Eteocles and
Polynices, and two daughters—Antigone and Ismene. Zulfikar
had four children; two sons—Mir Murtaza and Shahnawaz, and
two daughters—Benazir and Sanam. Oedipus, when he came
to know the truth of his patricide and incest, blinded himself
and went into self-imposed exile. Zulfikar, when he realized his
flawed judgment and personal hubris, was already held in a vice,
which a virulent regime turned into the noose finally ending him.
Oedipus’s sons fought over his kingdom and slew each other.
Polynices was refused burial by the state. Zulfikar’s sons met a
similar end. Murtaza was bullet-showered as he was driving into
his own house and Shahnawaz was poisoned, far away from home;
the assailants of both remain untraced to date. Oedipus’s daughter
x« BORN TO BE HANGED

Antigone was sent to death by her uncle Creon for disobeying
the law of Thebes. Zulfikar’s daughter Benazir was assassinated on
her way back from a public meeting. Both men, larger than life,
are victims despite epitomizing qualities which are the antithesis
of victimhood—self-confidence, masterfulness and intensity. The
Greeks would say they were cursed by the gods; ensnared by fate;
their self-destruction resulted from an imbalance in the ‘humours’
of which they were made. Seven thousand years later, what would
we say about our protagonist?

The tragic sagas of Antigone and Benazir reverberate through
generations. Sophocles, in his drama, has immortalized Antigone.
A parallel piece needs to be written on Benazir. Polynices and
Murtaza have remained unsung. But that is another story for
another time.

Sir Morrice James was Britain's High Commissioner in
Islamabad in the 1960s. He had worked closely with ZAB from
1962 onwards. In his Pakistan Chronicle, he writes, ‘Bhutto
certainly had the right qualities for reaching the heights—drive,
charm, imagination, a quick and penetrating mind, zest for life,
eloquence, energy, strong constitution, a sense of humour and a
thick skin. Such a blend is rare anywhere, and Bhutto deserved
his swift rise to power’ But then he adds, ‘There was—how will
I put it—a rank odour of hellfire about him. It was a case of
Corruptio Optimi Pessima (corruption of the best is the worst of
all) I believe that at heart he lacked a sense of the dignity and
value of other people; his own self was what counted. I sensed
in him ruthlessness and a capacity for ill-doing which went far
beyond what is natural’

Finance Minister Mubashir Hasan, a loyal and close associate
of ZAB, commented that the above remarks of Morrice James,
‘emanate from a man with middle class mind. These are relevant
for the sovereign mind only to the limited extent that their practice
does not cause violent turbulence in the state to endanger it. The
PROLOGUE «xi

sovereign’s highest interests are strengthening the state against
foreign powers, keeping his government strong and staying in
power; if possible, expanding both personal and state power. This
has priority over all values and powers derived from values. Moral
considerations, personal and populist values become secondary
to the pursuit of power and staying in power.

What then was the tragic flaw which led to the fall of the two
protagonists, Oedipus and Zulfikar? In the Greek world, fate rules
supreme. Any attempt to question or alter fate is catastrophic.
Oedipus was destined to commit fratricide, incest and self-
mutilation. He was warned by the oracle of his horrible destiny.
Being a mortal, he defied the gods and tried to change its course;
he challenged fate. This, in the eyes of Thebans and their gods
was unforgivable, the flaw that led to tragedy. From 5th Century
BC to 1979, almost seven centuries had elapsed when the tragedy
of ZAB unfolded. Fate was no longer the human determinant.
Human species had evolved to become its own arbiter. Zulfikar’s
tragic flaw was his arrogance. The Greeks call it hubris, which,
from beginning to end, emerges as his tragic flaw. Mubashir Hasan
explains this, ‘His tragedy lay in assuming that he could exercise
sovereign power whereas he had lost almost all of it.

Morrice James’ last sentence, like the oracle at Delphi, defines
the tragedy that flows from his flaw: ‘Despite his gifts, I judged
that one day Bhutto would destroy himself. When and how, I
could not tell. In 1965, I so reported in one of my last dispatches
from Pakistan as British High Commissioner. I wrote by way of
clinching that Bhutto was born to be hanged. Fourteen years later
that was what it turned out to be’

At the end of the play, Sophoclean chorus speaks words that
elevate tragedy. Its words are applicable to both protagonists. It,
thereby, fulfils its role of transporting tragedy to the height of
catharsis. We, as witnesses, transcend immediate grief when we
learn about Oedipus unriddling the Theban riddle and Zulfikar
xii « BORN TO BE HANGED

bringing the wretched and ragged of Pakistan to centre stage.
They both tried to solve the unsolvable, leading to their tragedy
and our catharsis.

The Greek play ends with the chorus’ comment; the chorus
stands for the audience witnessing what transpired:

Dwellers of Thebes,

Behold, this is Oedipus,

Who unriddled the famous riddle,

And was a man most notable.

What Theban did not envy his good fortune?

Yet behold into what a whirlwind of trouble he was hurled!
Therefore, with eyes fixed on the end destined for all,
Count no one of the race of man happy,

Until he has crossed lifes border free from pain.
Introduction

The time I began to think of writing about Zulfikar Ali Bhutto I
had no idea of the depth and expanse of my subject. For twenty
years] have lived with a man I never met. The unexplored portions
of his life, his times and my discovering them made me think of
a poem of John Keats, the poet most of us read in our growing
years. When he read Homer, Keats wrote On first Looking into
Chapman's Homer (Chapman translated Homer from Greek to
English)

Then I felt like some watcher of the skies
When a new planet swims into his ken
Or like stout Cortez when with eagle eyes
He stared at the pacific

A new planet in the form of ZAB had swum into my personal
landscape. [ was the ‘stout’ explorer Hernan Cortez. With an ‘eagle
eye’ I would explore the vast ocean of ZAB’s life and present it
to the world just as Cortez presented Mexico to Spain.

ZAB remained on my agenda throughout the ten years I
served as Member of Planning Commission of India. The materials
I had collected over seven years from 1997 to 2004 lined my
bookshelves. But where was the time!

When 1 first conceived the project in late nineties, most of
Z AB's close associates, with the exception of J. A. Rahim, who had
passed away, were living in Pakistan or elsewhere and were willing
xive BORN TO BE HANGED

to help. Over the years, I met a few of them and carefully preserved
the notes I took at these meetings. My mind conjured images
about events I had never seen. These images have foregrounded
the narrative of the book.

I picked up the work full steam in 2014. Haneef Ramay, Chief
Minister of Punjab for many years and Rafi Raza, Special Assistant
and later Federal Minister in ZAB’s Cabinet, had passed away.
Also gone was Khan Abdul Wali Khan, President National Awami
Party and Leader of Opposition during Bhutto years. In the 1980%
I had translated his autobiography in English from a handwritten
Urdu manuscript. I met him and Begum Naseem several times in
the 19805 but the present book was not conceived yet. I had the
privilege of sitting down with Ghulam Mustafa Khar, who was
Governor and Martial Law Administrator and Chief Minister of
Punjab during the Bhutto years. I had several meetings with L.A.
Rehman, Pakistan’s best known journalist who watched the drama
of ‘thanda kamra’ and the story of ZAB unfold day by day. But
my best friend and source of most of the knowledge I garnered
was Mubashir Hasan who not only placed all his archives at my
disposal but began working with me at the age of 73 and today at
93 he continues to have the same sharpness of mind he had then.
He is a formidable taskmaster and relentless critic. He has read
every word I have written, never allowing the slightest diversion
from fact, a poetic license or flight of imagination in which I am
prone to indulge. He rejects the old adage saying:

Badha bhi dete hain kuchh zeb-e-daastaan ki liye
(We exaggerate a bit to embellish the tale)

The emergence of Bangladesh coincided with the rise of Zulfikar
Ali Bhutto who came to power in 1971 following the defeat of
his country by India. His political agenda based on Islamic faith,
democratic polity, socialist economy and confrontation with
India made him beloved of Pakistani masses. Pakistan's military
INTRODUCTION eo xv

dictator General Yahya Khan, when he was forced to quit by
the army following its defeat by India, signed on the dotted line
which made ZAB the President and CMLA (Chief Martial Law
Administrator). He began work the moment he left the erstwhile
President's chambers. Unrelenting about executing his work plan,
he made his core team work around the clock not permitting
the slightest laxity. ‘Bhutto would work until early hours of the
morning’ writes Mubashir Hasan. Within a few months he had
carried out his agenda of socialist reforms. Pakistan got its Interim
Constitution within four months of ZAB coming to power. And
in 1973 Pakistan had its first ever Constitution passed by an
elected Assembly based on adult franchise.

During the next few years, ZAB had fully consolidated his
power. He emerged as a leader with an international stature and
immense support of the masses. However, within a few years,
his power eroded. His reliance on civil and military bureaucracy
rather than on the people left him at the mercy of the former. First,
he lost support in the cities where the business class became his
bitter enemy. It took longer before the people of the countryside
followed suit. The United States, who was never in his favour
due to his socialist agenda and dreams for leadership of Islamic
countries and the third world, warned him of becoming a ‘horrible
example!

ZAB was overthrown in 1977 by the Chief of his Army Staff
General Zia-ul-Haq and was executed in 1979 through a contrived
judicial process described by former Chief Justice Mohammad
Muneer, as judicial murder. Zia-ul-Haq ruled over Pakistan for
11 years with an iron fist, curbing all dissent until he got blown
up in an air crash in 1988. In almost three decades since then,
Pakistan’s leadership has changed hands 15 times. An extremely
controversial and confrontational politics is associated with the
era of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. It is therefore not surprising that,
considering his towering stature, not enough has been researched
xvies BORN TO BE HANGED

and written about the tumultuous years of his accession to power
culminating in, what today is best described, as regicide.

The most popular work on ZAB is Stanley Wolpert's Zulfi
Bhutto of Pakistan: His Life and Times published in 1993 in which
he has written over 100 pages about the crucial years 1972-76.
But one giveaway of his bias is the dedication of his book to
Ardeshir Cowasjee who Mubashir Hasan describes as ‘inveterate
Bhutto hater. The most important source for me, other than oral
history and archival material, was The Mirage of Power (published
in 2000 by Oxford University Press) written by Mubashir Hasan
in which ZAB’s close associate writes his honest, unadorned
and factual account. Fatima Bhutto's Songs of Blood and Sword
(published in 2010 by Penguin-Viking) is a daughter's memoir
which has nuggets about her grandfathers turbulent life. Rafi
Razas Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and Pakistan 1967-1977 and Anwar
H. Syed’s The Discourse and Politics of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto shed
strong objective light. A few Indian authors like Pran Chopra did
great service by bringing out ZAB’s memoirs of his last days at
Rawalpindi Jail in If I am Assassinated.

Two watershed moments in writing this book need to be
placed on record. First is anecdotal. An 83-year-old woman,
Mubashir Hasan’s mother, gave him a piece of advice, its essence
being ‘power is an affliction. She was worried about her son's
absence from home. The year was 1968 when PPP was gaining
huge popularity. He explained to her that he was ‘doing’ politics
to replace the present corrupt dictatorship with a ‘young educated
and popular leader’ ‘Is he well off, does he have wife and children?’
she asked. Hasan replied that he was rich and had a wife and
four beautiful children. ‘Then what afflicts him’ she asked ‘that
he wants to become a king?’

My second watershed moment was when I learnt of the 17-
page letter Mubashir Hasan wrote to his leader two years before
he was hanged by the state. The imminent doom was evident
INTRODUCTION « xvii

to all his close associates. Mubashir wrote in his letter ‘What is
needed in Pakistan is a leadership with the willing partnership
of peasant and labour through a democratic process without the
intervention of persons whose interests conflicted with those of
the working classes’ He wrote this letter two years after he had
resigned from the Cabinet, a move which according to Rafi Raza
baffled ZAB that a politician would so willingly relinquish power.
Mubashir Hasan, son of a wise mother, saw the reality through
the ‘mirage of power’; ZAB did not.

It has taken 20 years to complete this work for which I have
visited Pakistan as many times. Most of my days were spent in
Lahore where all the documents were available. In Karachi I
entered ZAB’s mansion, 70 Clifton, with a strong sense of deja vu.
The place was opened for me by Ghinwa Bhutto, ZAB’s daughter-
in-law and leader of PPP (Shaheed Bhutto) who is also one of
the warmest persons I have known. The library was as grand and
well-equipped as its owner. I did read a few of the documents
placed there and I testify that the library has a lot for future
historians and biographers.

As an endnote, I place on record that are two diametrical
opposite personalities which became the subject of the major
research of my life, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad and Zulfikar Ali
Bhutto. Their only common point is that they were both very
important world leaders who were also Muslims. (I do not think
of them in the category of ‘Muslim leaders’ an epithet used often
in intellectual discourse.) But my engagement with them created
one more ‘similarity. My manuscript on Azad was rejected by
Oxford University Press (OUP) India and my proposal on ZAB
was rejected by Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial Fund. This double
rejection forms an interesting narrative; its subtext is evident. I
received both rejection letters in 1997. The next year, my Azad
book was published by OUP Pakistan titled Islamic Seal on
India’s Independence. Seventeen years later OUP India proactively
xviiis BORN TO BE HANGED

published the same book with the title Maulana Azad, Islam and
the Indian National Movement. And now this book!

Ismail Guljee’s ‘Lapiz Zulfikar’ which is featured in the photo
pages of this book speaks volumes about the man. In the portrait,
he is seated on a chair with a sense of ease as if he is sitting on a
throne. His clothes are Awami shalwar suit, not Savile row suit and
silk scarf which equally formed his wardrobe. His expression is at
once thoughtful, compassionate and arrogant. It is a surrealistic
work of art. In blue stone, the artist has created flesh, blood and
passion. Guljee, the artist from Peshawar, who made the portrait
was murdered in 2007; he understood his subject and knew how
to display his many dimensions in semi-precious stone. This is
its first public view. So far, it has been posheeda (hidden); not
found in any real or virtual art gallery.

ZAB’s story must begin. But not before I indulge myself in
recalling lines from the poet Sauda which spring to my mind
when I look back on 20 years of my life with Zulfikar Ali Bhutto.

Sauda Khuda ke wastey kar gissa mukhtasar,
Apni to neend ur gayi tere fasane mein.

(For God's sake shorten your tale O Sauda,
Your tale has blown away my sleep.)
Foreword

Zulfikar Ali Bhutto's presence in Lahore was always an electrifying
event. He was an immensely popular person; every common
Pakistani was eager to meet him, shake his hand or touch his
clothes. Out on the streets or at a public meeting, he was always
in danger of being crushed by mobs of admirers. Huge crowds
waited to greet him at airports and railway stations. His arrival
at public meetings in Lahore required meticulous arrangements
to ward off physical danger. The route he would take from his
hotel to the meeting place was a secret known only to one or
two persons—myself or a party member, Miyan Aslam. We had
to make special arrangement for his arrival or departure from
a public meeting. His physical safety was our principal concern.
A ring of strong party youth was always needed for his safety.
Seeing him off from rallies after a public speech without being
crushed by mob required meticulous preparation. He had to be
encircled by a ring of strong arms locked together. A safe passage
through a crushing mob of college students was another problem
for his hosts. On one occasion to prevent the crush, a portable
ladder was used to take him down two storeys through a window
of the YMCA hall at Lahore.

How did it all start? Zulfikar Ali Bhutto (ZAB) had gained
immense popularity by his speech before the Security Council in
1965 in which he had told Indian forces to get out of Kashmir.
His words, ‘We shall fight for a thousand years’ had won the
xx » BORN TO BE HANGED

hearts of Pakistanis especially young Punjabis. It took him time
to understand the reason why crowds surged to greet him. It
took him time to realize that he had become a hugely popular
leader of the masses.

ZAB was the youngest minister in General Ayub Khan's
Cabinet after the latter staged a Coup detat in 1958. He remained
his leading supporter for eight years until 1966 when President
Ayub Khan signed the agreement with Lal Bahadur Shastri
at Tashkent. Strongly opposed to the Tashkent Agreement, he
despised Ayub Khan for signing it. When Shastri died of a heart
attack at Tashkent and an assistant brought the news of his death,
Bhutto was asleep. ‘Sir, the bastard has died, he reported. ZAB
asked ‘Which one?’

About the national political scene, ZAB and I had a close
understanding. Whenever he called me early in the morning he
asked ‘Did you see the newspaper?’ Each time I understood exactly
which piece he was referring to. Generally, it was not about a
political event but about a colleague making a politically foolish
statement or about his own posture in a newspaper photograph.

Syeda Hameed and I have discussed almost all aspects of
ZAB's career for years. In our opinion he lived and died as an
outstanding individual not only among his contemporaries in
Pakistan but on the international scene of the region. The author
has used the lens of Greek tragedy to view his life and death. She
sees him through the prism of Oedipus the King of Thebes. That
is her view which also resonates with mine. Of the book which
unravels the life of the man Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, I as his oldest
and closest living associate, say in the words of Mirza Asadullah
Khan Ghalib’s lines which are inspirational and which I offer as
my tribute to the author and her protagonist:

Aatey hain ghaib sey ye mazameen khayal mein
Ghalib sareer-e-khama nawa-e-sarosh hai
FOREWORD » xxi

(These hidden themes are revealed to my mind
Movement of my pen is divine inspiration.)

—Mubashir Hasan

(Co-founder of Pakistan People’s Party and a close associate of
Zulfikar Ali Bhutto)
|
The Boy from Larkana

nee Ali Bhutto was born on 5 January 1928 in Al-Murtuza
in Larkana. When the news came to Sir Shahnawaz Bhutto, he
was offering his Fajr (predawn) prayer. It is said that he spoke
these words, ‘Allah, I am grateful to you, I am your devotee. My
father was your devotee and my mother is your devotee. My
life is in your control and you are the highest’ He rose from his
prayer mat, crossed over to the zenana and recited the azaan in
the ear of his newborn. The child was called Zulfikar Ali because
of his desire that when this child grows up he should slash the
darkness of the world like the sword of the fourth Khalifa, Hazrat
Ali, who was called Zulfikar.

An interview with Maula Bakhsh, old family retainer, was
conducted in Garhi Khuda Bakhsh, 132 hours before ZAB was
hanged. It was written in the journal ‘Atishfishan’ (Volcano) from
Lahore.! Bakhsh reported that ancestors of the Bhutto clan came
with Mohd bin Qasim in the year AD 712. At the time Fatimids
were ruling Egypt when the Bhuttos were owners of large parts
of Sindh. Their earliest patriarch Doda Khan was described in
one British account as ‘the best and most enterprising zamindar
in the whole of Sindh’

'From the private library of ZAB at 70 Clifton.
2=BORN TO BE HANGED

Doda Khan had three sons—Amir Bakhsh, who was given
jagir of Naudero; Khuda Bakhsh, who was given jagir of Garhi
Khuda Bakhsh; and Elahi Bakhsh, who was given Pir Bakhsh
Bhutto. Khuda Bakhsh was ZAB'’s great-grandfather. His son was
Ghulam Murtaza who had two sons—Shahnawaz and Ali Gauhar
Khan. Shahnawaz who was knighted and became Sir Shahnawaz
Bhutto, was ZAB's father.

Shahnawaz was married twice. By his first wife, he had Imdad
Ali Bhutto, Sikander Ali Bhutto and four daughters. By his second
marriage to Begum Khursheed, he had three daughters and one
son; Mumtaz Begum, Munawarul Islam, Benazir (died at age 12)
and Zulfikar Ali. He had 10 children in all. Zulfikar Ali Bhutto
was a child of an influential and a prominent Sindh feudal who
held sway over thousands of haris (cultivators), over hundreds of
hectares, and vast landholdings in interior Sindh. His mother was
a Hindu woman of modest means who had converted to Islam.

Mubashir Hasan narrates an incident which occurred in the
70s in Sindh Club in Karachi. One evening, while sitting over
a drink with his friends, ZAB saw Jam Sadiq Ali (later chief
minister of Sindh) walk past without acknowledging his presence.
‘Call him back, ZAB was miffed. ‘He walked past me without
a salaam. The man was summoned. ‘Without a salaam, Sadiq?
Don’t you remember your father, when he attended my father’s
kutcheri, used to sit on the floor?” The man stood for a moment
and said, ‘Yes, Sahib, I remember. But he sat there because that
was the best seat to watch Lakhi Bais dance! ZAB's mother’s
name before her marriage was Lakhi Bai.

His father was well respected by the people of the region.
‘For generations my family had rendered distinguished services
to Sindh, first in undivided India, and after partition in Pakistan,
ZAB wrote in his Writ Petition in 1969 submitted to the Lahore
High Court. Opulence, and that too of Sindhi feudal, marked
generations of the Bhuttos. In 1972, ZAB was asked by Khalid
THE BOY FROM LARKANA =» 3

Bin Sayeed, a professor from Canada, ‘You were born with a
silver spoon; how come you have so much compassion for the
poor?’ They were coming back from a dinner hosted by Qaism
Patel at his residence in Karachi. ‘I got it from my mother, ZAB
replied. The professor records that he saw tears rolling down
his cheeks.

The family was a devotee of the shrine of sufi saint Shahbaz
Qalandar at Sehwan. When Zulfikar fell fatally ill as a child, his
mother prayed day and night. She attributed her son’s recovery
to the miracle of Shahbaz Qalandar of Sehwan Sharif. More than
40 years later, as prime minister of Pakistan, Zulfikar prayed at
the same shrine, and ordered a pair of solid gold doors to be
installed there. ZAB wasonly 13 when his marriage was arranged
to an older cousin, Shireen Amir Begum. She was the daughter of
Ahmed Khan of Naudero, who was by far the largest landowner
in the Bhutto tribe. He was the only son of Rasul Bakhsh Bhutto
and was ‘cursed’ with three daughters and no male heir.* ZAB was
10 years younger than his bride. Once, Begum Khursheed’s friend
Begum Ansari asked her, ‘Why did you get your son married to
an older girl?’ Her answer was, ‘Don’t you know who I am? If
today Sir Sahib dies, they will throw me out. By marrying Zulfi
to his uncle’s daughter, I have held them back so that we also
have some anchor in life*

In the first four years of ZABs life, his father received many
honours, which were attributed to his auspicious birth. He was
given the title ‘Sir’ and was made the leader of the Sindhi
Delegation at the Round Table Conference in London. He then
entered politics at the local and national level; it is recorded that

*Zulfi Bhutto of Pakistan: His Life and Times, Wolpert, Stanley A., Oxford
University Press, 1993.p 19.

*Songs of Blood and Sword, Fatima Bhutto, Penguin Books India 2010, p 45.
Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Sayasi Sawaneh Hayat (Vol-1), Rasheed Akhtar Nadvi, 1974,
Islamabad: Idaara Ma‘araf-e-Milli.
4 « BORN TO BE HANGED

he shook hands with Ramsay MacDonald and would not let go
of that hand until he agreed to include the separation of Sindh
as an agenda at the Round Table Conference. The Government
of India Act of 1935 created councils in various provinces in the
Raj and elections were held in October 1937. In those days there
were no political parties in Sindh, so it was an election that was
open to very few. Sir Shahnawaz Bhutto stood for election from
Larkana, his home town.’ But he lost to Sheikh Abdul Majeed
Sindhi, who interestingly, was the brother of the Indian leader
Acharya Kripalani, and had converted to Islam.’ Rafi Raza, (later
to become Bhutto’s Minister of Law) wrote that Sir Shahnawaz
was the one who nurtured his ambitious son on politics; letters
to him in student days conveyed the political news of Pakistan
rather than family news and usual parental advice. Raza wrote
that some of these letters were shown to him by ZAB, such
as a long note explaining his electoral defeat by Sheikh Abdul
Majeed Sindhi and his subsequent retirement from politics. He
blamed members of Mumtaz Bhutto's branch of the family for
his defeat, who in turn maintained that it happened because Sir
Shahnawaz lived in Bombay (now Mumbai) and did not visit
his rural constituency.” In 1947 he moved to Junagadh, a small
princely state, and became the Diwan of the Nawab of Junagadh.
In 1934, when Shahnawaz was inducted in the Bombay State
Cabinet as the Sindh representative, the family moved to Bombay
and ZAB was enrolled in Cathedral Boys School in 1937 at the
age of nine. Earlier he had been tutored at home in Larkana; this
was his first formal school. He had to work hard to come up to
the standard of his class fellows. Besides being a good student,
he was also a fine tennis, badminton and cricket player. In the

*Songs of Blood and Sword, Fatima Bhutto, Penguin Books India 2010. p 43.
$Qral history from I.A. Rehman, Lahore, 18 July 2017.

Zulfikar Ali Bhuttoand Pakistan, 1967-1977, Rafi Raza, Oxford University Press,
1997. p 1-22.
THE BOY FROM LARKANA #5

cricket world he was very close to the great sports legend, Syed
Mushtaq Ali.2

When he was 15 years old, he wrote a letter to a man he
adored as a role model —Quaid-e-Azam, Mohammad Ali Jinnah:

Charleville Hotel, Mussourie
26 April 1943

Dear Sir,

The political situation which has taken place in the Frontier
has made me so wild and angry that I have found the
courage to write to you my thoughts. Musalmans should
realize that Hindus can never and will never unite with
us, they are the deadliest enemies of our Koran and our
Prophet. We should realize that you are our leader; you
Sir have brought us under one platform and one flag and
the cry of every Musalman should be ‘onward to Pakistan’.
We have a capable leader in you and nobody can stop us,
who are a nation by ourselves and India is a subcontinent.
Therefore we must have our rights.

How can Sheikh Mohd Abdullah and others such as
Dr Khan Sahib call themselves Musalmans when they fall
victims to Congress policy. It breaks my heart when I read
their stupid speeches against the League. Are they really
so ignorant or is it their idea of patriotism? It will take a
million such Abdullahs in trying to convince us that our
aim is wrong and even then they will not succeed because
they don’t realize that you have inspired us and we are
proud of you.

Being still in school, I am unable to help in the
establishment of our sacred land. But the time will come

®Indian cricketer and the first Indian to score a Test Century away from home, at
old Trafford in Manchester in England in 1936.
6» BORN TO BE HANGED

when I will even sacrifice my life for Pakistan. I belong
to the province of Sindh, undoubtedly Sindh is another
province which is causing trouble but inshallah the day
will come when Sindh will turn for the better and play a
vital part in our Pakistan.

Sir, I fully realize that you are very busy and you
might not have time to read a letter of a schoolboy, leave
alone replying to it.

If you think that I am being very foolish then please
forgive me but I simply had to write to you after reading
those ignorant speeches of impractical men.

I am your follower.
Zulfikar Ali Bhutto

And then much to the ecstatic delight of the small boy came a
reply! The great Quaid-e-Azam wrote him a personal letter from
his residence at Mount Pleasant Road Bombay on 1 May 1943:

I was very glad to read your letter of 26th April and to
note that you have been following the various political
events. I would advise you, if you are interested in politics,
to make a thorough study of it. But, don't neglect your
education, and when you have completed your students
career, I have no doubt that you will be better qualified if
you study thoroughly the political problems of India, when
you enter the struggle of life.

Signed:
M.A. Jinnah

His politics was being moulded, as his letter shows. Firm
conviction about Sheikh Mohd Abdullah and Dr Khan Sahib’s
betrayal of the cause of Muslims remained deeply embedded in
his heart.
THE BOY FROM LARKANA «7

Zulfikar spent his adolescence between two Sindhs: Larkana,
which later became Pakistan, and Bombay, the capital of Sindh
in India. India was still one country when Zulfikar left home to
begin his undergraduate studies at the University of California at
Berkeley. Partition was imminent but still not there. The country
ZAB left would be broken into two by the time of his return. Some
of his detractors would later insist that he was still legally an Indian
citizen. That was rightly trashed as a politically-motived lie and
counter arguments were written in a pamphlet widely circulated
by his supporters. But ZAB’s very identity was impacted by the
shifting boundaries of his subcontinent. It was in Bombay, on the
eve of his departure to California, that he first read Marx, and his
privileged existence faced its first challenge. He was born a feudal
master, a zamindar, and no one could ever imagine that he would
become the nemesis of capitalist aggression. He later said that it
was his reading of Marx that stirred a shift in his attitude towards
the feudalism that his generation took for granted. Decades later,
on 1 March 1972, as president he announced a programme of
land reforms whereby the maximum amount of land that may
be held by one family was reduced from 500 irrigated or 1000
unirrigated acres to 150 irrigated or 300 unirrigated acres. And on
5 January 1977, New Land Reforms again reduced the maximum
land held by one family to 100 irrigated or 200 unirrigated acres.
Mubashir Hasan says, ‘Bhutto himself donated 38,000 acres of his
land’ His granddaughter Fatima Bhutto writes, ‘When speaking
of the government's land reforms, in which he surrendered his
own land (mainly the land in Jacobabad, fought for and won by
Doda Khan), he said, “I'll lose still more, my children will lose
still more... I've felt no fear of giving up what I own ever since

the day I read Marx>"'°

*Interview with the author in July 2017. Confirmed by Mr LA. Rehman.
'%Songs of Blood and Sword, Fatima Bhutto. Penguin Books India 2010. p. 46.
8 = BORN TO BE HANGED

Piloo Mody'' was one of his closest friends in school. Mody
penned down several anecdotes of their schooldays in his book,
Zulfi, My Friend (1973). He records that once in 1945, he with
his cousin, Jehangir Mugaseth and Zulfi, went on a holiday to
Mussoorie and stayed at the Charleville Hotel. Whenever they
were served pudding after dinner, Jehangir and Zulfi emptied it
out and packed it for later hunger pangs of growing boys!

Besides Mushtaq Ali, ‘Emperor of Cricket, who he greatly
admired, ZAB's greatest icon was Mohammad Ali Jinnah. In this
matter he followed his father, who was a staunch believer in
the Quaid and his two-nation theory. ZAB had Hindu friends
whose ideal was Mahatma Gandhi but this difference did not
stand in the way of their friendship. When the news of Gandhi's
assassination broke, Mody was his guest in California. It was ZAB
who gave him solace at that time of great distress. In 1948, he
joined University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and after one
year he transferred to Berkeley. There he graduated in Political
Science and again shared a room with Piloo Mody. Both friends
were highly competitive, devoted most of their time to studies
and were students of the famous Professor Lipski. ZAB studied
International Law and Political Science. A lecture he gave on
heritage of Islamic Civilization made the proposition that Islamic
countries should adopt socialism. His inspiration, he said, came
from no less than the sunnah of the Prophet; it is recorded that
whenever the Prophet sat for a meal, he shared his frugal table
with the hungry and needy. Islam and socialism were therefore
aligned since its inception.

Next was Christ Church, Oxford, where he received an LLB,
followed by LLM and an M.Sc (honours) in Political Science. There

MAn Indian architec, politician and one of the founding members of the
Swatantra Party. Elected to the 4th and 5th Lok Sabhas, he served in the Rajya
Sabha from 1978 until his death.
THE BOY FROM LARKANA «9

were friends who looked back and remembered: ‘His lively and
energetic mind would seek out a host of subjects, asking, learning
and remembering everything in minute detail on a wide variety
of topics, ranging over history, literature, politics, philosophy {...]
Zulfi had a very perceptive mind, a phenomenal memory and
an insatiable thirst for knowledge.'? Upon completing his degree,
he was called to the bar at Lincoln's Inn. There his extraordinary
academic record got him lectureship in International Law in the
University of Southampton, It was then that he received news
that his father was critically ill and without a second thought
he returned to Pakistan. That was 1953; six years into partition.
Next, he returned to Karachi to practise law at the Dingomal’s
Chambers (West Pakistan High Court, Karachi) and at the same
time began teaching constitutional law in Sindh Muslim Law
College, Karachi.” Highly intelligent, well-read and ambitious,
his legal acumen spread and the Chief Justice, an Englishman
named Constantine, paid ZAB rich tributes, and predicted a very
bright future for him in the legal profession."

In 1954, a new formula was devised to integrate all the
provinces and principalities of West Pakistan into ‘one unit’
under one administration, which would then elect exactly as
many members to a new National Assembly as East Pakistan.'®
Its purpose was to diminish the differences between the two
unequal wings of Pakistan which were separated from each
other by more than a thousand miles. On 30 September 1955,
the Assembly passed the Bill merging 310,000 square miles into a

RZulfi My Friend, Piloo Mody, Paramount Publishers, January, 1973. p 26.
Bwolpert, Stanley A. Zulfi Bhutto of Pakistan: His Life and Times. New York:
Oxford University Press, 1993. p 42-43,

YZulfi My Friend, Piloo Mody, Paramount Publishers, January 1973.
p34.

'*One Unit scheme continued until General Yahya Khan dissolved it on 1 July
1970.
10 = BORN TO BE HANGED

single province, with Lahore as its provincial capital. West Pakistan
had formerly comprised three Governor's provinces, one Chief
Commissioner's province, a number of states that had acceded
to Pakistan, and the tribal areas. The result of the new Bill was
to unify these various units into one province to be known as
West Pakistan.

This clever idea would, in fact, disenfranchise almost 20 per
cent of East Pakistan's population, thus stripping that region of
its national majority status. The smaller provinces of the west
also felt cheated, for they would now become political cyphers of
the Punjabi majority under whose unitary umbrella they were to
be integrated. ZAB found this scheme unacceptable and argued
that it would instead only ‘augment disintegration:'®* When the
Chief Minister of Sindh, Muhammad Ayub Khuhro, learnt this,
he was enraged and wanted to get ZAB arrested. But his friends
advised him against it because it would mean making enemies
of the entire clan of Bhuttos.

ZABss political journey began when the President of Pakistan
Iskander Mirza'” came for a hunting trip to Larkana. Mirza and
Sir Shahnawaz were old friends and he had been a regular guest at
Al-Murtuza. He was greatly impressed with ZAB's quick wit and
sharp grasp of politics and diplomacy. So, in 1955, he proposed
his name for the delegation which was to go to United Nations
(UN) to represent Pakistan. But Chaudhry Mohd Ali, who was
then Secretary General of Government of Pakistan scuttled the
idea. It was again on the recommendation of Iskander Mirza and
Prime Minister Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy'® that, in 1957, he

$Zulfi Bhutto of Pakistan: His Life and Times, Wolpert, Stanley A. Oxford
University Press, 1993. p 47-48.

7 An East Pakistan politician who servedas the first President of Pakistan, elected
in this capacity in 1956 and was dismissed in 1959.

8G, hrawardy was from a prominent Bengali Muslim family. He became the
second Prime Minister of Pakistan in September 1956. He joined Awami League
THE BOY FROM LARKANA #11

was made a member of Pakistan's delegation to the UN. At the
age of 29, Bhutto addressed the Sixth Conference of the UN on
25 October 1957 on ‘Defining Aggression’

He referred to the speech of representative of Belgium about
the miraculous achievements of modern science and the need
to keep our social sciences in rhythm else they would face the
danger of becoming effete. While agreeing with his premise he
argued that this was a double-edged argument. ‘If modern man
can launch a sputnik, he can also define aggression.” He said that
he could not only define aggression but also circumvent, subvert
and abuse it. Then he dealt his master stroke before the largely
First World delegates, who must have listened to his words, open-
mouthed. ‘A definition, under these circumstances, would literally
mean the presentation of our civilization on a uranium platter
to a would-be aggressor, to a twentieth century Chengiz Khan
or Attila; a would-be world dictator who would most certainly
find the means to distort and mutilate the definition for his own
wicked and gruesome ambitions’

Later, as a participant at the International Conference in
Geneva, Switzerland in March 1958, ZAB made five presentations
over two weeks. Almost in tears and his voice charged with
emotion, he spoke for mankind with the bold declaration: ‘The
High Seas are free to all; a speech which is still regarded as one
of the best on the subject. World leaders were amazed to see this
young man who was speaking from the depth of his convictions,
not just as a representative of Pakistan but as a citizen of the world.
He was telling them that the UN was not fulfilling its mandate
as it could not see the difference between war for aggression and
war for protection.

Prime Minister Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy, recognizing

in 1952, a party that would later launch East Pakistan's Six Points, demanding
virtual autonomy, under the lead of his disciple, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
12 «= BORN TO BE HANGED

young Bhutto's potential, used to ask him to join his party
whenever Bhutto visited him at his home. It was on one of these
visits to Suhrawardy’s home that he first met Sheikh Mujibur
Rahman.”

Iskander Mirza wanted him for the Cabinet but ZAB asked
that he be named by Ayub Khan, because he could see the writing
was on the wall for Iskander! So it was on Ayub Khan's behest
that he became, on 27 October 1958, the youngest Federal Cabinet
member in the history of Pakistan at the age of 30. Over the
next few years he held key portfolios of Minister of Commerce,
Minister of Information, Minister of National Reconstruction,
Minister of Fuel, Power and Natural Resources before becoming
the Foreign Minister. In 1960, he was the first minister to lead
a delegation to Moscow to conclude the Russo-Pakistani joint
venture in oil exploration in Baluchistan. As a result of this, the
Soviet government floated a long-term loan of 30 million dollars
for this joint venture.

Bhutto wrote later, ‘I went to Moscow to conduct negotiations
with the Soviet Union for an oil agreement. I mention this fact
because it marked the point at which our relations with the Soviet
Union, most unsatisfactory until then, began to improve”

By the eve of his 33rd birthday, ZAB had become Pakistan's
second-most experienced adviser to Ayub Khan on foreign affairs.
His UN experience had helped him to focus his global vision
more sharply, convincing him that for a world ‘dominated by
the great powers and filled with the fear of a nuclear holocaust,
the umbrella of a World Organization was the best protector of

smaller non-nuclear states’?!

¥As told by Mubashir Hasan.

peter Niesewand’s article titled ‘A vain autocrat who gave his nation confidence’
published by The Guardian on 5 April 1979.

#Zulfs Bhutto of Pakistan: His Life and Times, Wolpert, Stanley A., New York,
Oxford University Press, 1993. p 66.
THE BOY FROM LARKANA «13

On 8 September 1951, ZAB married Nusrat Isphahani,
whose family had moved from Isphahan (Iran) to Bombay and
then moved to Karachi after partition. Within few months,
her family had bought a place near the Bhutto's at 23 Clifton.
Nusrat was born and schooled in Bombay.?? Her father founded
Bombay's Isphahani Soap Factory. Both Sir Shahnawaz and Begum
Khursheed were not happy at their son marrying an ‘outsider’ But
ZAB was determined and they were married in a secret ceremony
attended by two of his close friends, Nusrat’s two sisters, and
a Maulvi to perform the nikah. Two days later, Sir Shahnawaz
hosted a reception for his son and his wife.

Begum Nusrat Bhutto wrote a Foreword to Siyasi Sawaneh
Hayat (political biography of ZAB) written by Rasheed Akhtar
Nadvi which begins with a description of their family life. She
writes that she was very close to her parents-in-law who treated
her more like a daughter than a daughter-in-law. Devout followers
of Islam, she recalls how generous they were with distributing
charity among the poor and the deprived.

For the first couple of years after marriage, Nusrat writes, she
lived with her in-laws since ZAB was in London. After that, she
divided her time between Larkana and Karachi. She narrates how
kind ZAB was to his servants and cultivators, and how fiercely
loyal they were to him. Their first child Benazir was born on
21 June 1953 when ZAB was 25 and she was 24. Their second
child Ghulam Murtaza was born on 18 September 1954. He was
the first male child in the family after 20 years, so there was a
big celebration. The third child, Sanam Seema was born on 24
August 1956 and the fourth son, Shahnawaz on 21 November
1958. This was also the year ZAB took the oath of office as the
Minister of Commerce in the Ayub Khan Cabinet.

Z1bid. p 38-39.
BSongs of Blood and Sword, Fatima Bhutto, Penguin Books India 2010.
14 = BORN TO BE HANGED

Regarding their children, she said that ZAB expressed more
affection for his daughters than his sons. “When I asked him
why, he said, “I love my sons equally, but I don't express it in
case they become spoilt with excessive love. I want them to be
able to face lifes trials with grit. I don’t want my children to be
brought up like little princes; I want them to consider themselves
ordinary humans and not deserving special treatment. I want
them to understand problems of the common man by identifying
with them.”

The next generation was to receive from their father the values
which he had imbibed from his parents. This is evident in the
lines he wrote on the exquisite copies of the Quran, which he
presented to both his sons when they were leaving home for
higher studies.

For Mir Murtaza
Mir My Son,

Take with you the last message of God to mankind.
Howsoever you have been brought up, howsoever you might
think today, the day will come when Islam will put its
final seal. Do not be swayed or influenced in any other
direction, when Allah has shown through his message the
real direction.

Best of luck my son, may God guide you. I am always
with you, wherever you go and wherever you are.

Love,

Papa
September 2, 1972

**Taken from 70 Clifton library.
THE BOY FROM LARKANA « I5

For Shahnawaz
My youngest born son,

I am giving you the best message of God for you to
follow as the only path for there is no other path both for
this world and the world hereafter. It will guide you more
clearly than any of the books you will read in the course
of your higher studies. It is the highest study. There are
other paths also. Look at them but take your steps only
in this chosen path if you want to serve man. Satisfy your
aims and earn the blessings of your parents and mankind.

Zulfikar Ali Bhutto
August 24, 1976

Nusrat was asked about ZAB's state of mind after he returned
home from Tashkent and went into seclusion. She said, ‘1 have
never seen him as worried as he was at the time, he was the
most disappointed man. When I persisted in asking the reason he
told me the bitter truth, “In Tashkent, Ayub Khan sold Pakistan.
He did not uphold the dignity of a nation nor did he show any
self respect.” He then began pacing up and down and mumbled
to himself, “I will not be able to work with Ayub, because he
has not only disgraced himself but the entire country” He kept
repeating this one sentence, “I will not be able to work with Ayub
Khan again. He did not listen to me and inflicted this despicable
agreement on the country. How can I get along with this traitor?”

Nadvi then asked her, ‘What was his state of mind when
he was removed from office in June 1966 through compulsory
leave?” She answered, smiling, ‘He was very happy, I found him
like a prisoner who had just been freed from jail’

Few days after ZAB was dismissed, he and Begum Nusrat went
for a three-month tour of Europe; that is when they devised their
future road map. He began to draw a blueprint for a new party.
2
Rise of (he Star

A the age of 15, ZAB wrote a letter to Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad
Ali Jinnah on 26 April 1943. His anger at the events in the
Frontier and Kashmir spilt on the paper. The events, he wrote,
were the pro-India stance of Dr Khan Sahib and Sheikh Mohd
Abdullah. ‘How can Sheikh Mohd Abdullah and Dr Khan Sahib
call themselves musalmans when they fall victim to Congress
policy? It breaks my heart when I listen to their stupid speeches
against the League. Are they really so ignorant or is it their idea
of patriotism?’ In one stroke, he condemned pro-India movement
of Red Shirts and ‘Indian stooges’ like Sheikh Mohd Abdullah
of Kashmir, calling them ‘ignorant speeches of impractical men’

Deep distrust of the ‘other’ was embedded in the mind of
this teenager. The letter seems to spit out the words. ‘Musalmans
should realise that Hindus can never, will never unite with us.
They are the deadliest enemies of our Koran and our Prophet’ The
15-year-old was studying at Cathedral School, Bombay. He had
Parsi friends, like Piloo Mody but must have rubbed shoulders
with Hindu boys as well.

He then offers himself to his one and only leader, “The time
will come when I will even sacrifice my life for Pakistan. He
affirms his strong belief that Sindh ‘will one day play a vital role
in the birth of Pakistan.
RISE OF THE STAR «17

These childhood expressions later on were to become the
foundation of his popularity when the country was at its most
vulnerable—first having lost the 1965 war to India and later
when Ayub Khan and Lal Bahadur Shastri signed the Tashkent
Agreement in 1966. Next was the war of 1971 which led to the
fall of Dacca on 16 December. The country was stung with even
more humiliation.

For the two countries, the 18 intervening years following
Independence and partition, 1947-1965, were filled with extreme
tension and enmity. There were divided families on both sides.
Difficulties of travel were mounting; in the early days, permission
from District Commissioner was the only required document
needed for travel. Soon special passport and later international
passport was introduced. In the aftermath of the India-Pakistan
war of 1965, many Pakistanis became anxious about the future of
their country. There was widespread economic hardship in daily
life. There was scarcity of coal, water, weapons; India had not paid
Pakistan's share of the Consolidated Fund. India’s refusal after
partition to part with what a resource-starved Pakistan regarded
as its meagre share of financial assets and military equipment was
deplored by no one less than Mahatma Gandhi.?® Pakistan was
deprived of salt pans, which India had in plenty. East Pakistan had
all the jute cultivation but its market and trade was not in Dacca;
it was in Calcutta, a factor which paralyzed East Pakistan. The
battle over the accession of the Muslim majority state of Kashmir
in 1948 (which was to be cut into half by a ceasefire line) sealed
the feud. Not including the communal slaughter occasioned by
partition, it would be only the first round of bloodletting between
India and Pakistan. Both states embarked on a collision course

For details of the conflict at partition over the division of military assets, see The
Defence of Pakistan: An Historical Perspective, Ayesha Jalal, (paper presented at a
conference at Oxford University, October 1984).
18 « BORN TO BE HANGED

which was to become a permanent feature of their relationship in
the years ahead. India, because of its greater economic resources
and an industrial base as well as a vibrant political movement
led by the Congress Party, was better able to absorb the costs of
such ventures, Pakistan was not.

ZAB wrote Confrontation with India®® at the time he was
in thick of politics. His bitterness as reflected in the letter to
Quaid-e-Azam now covered a much wider canvas. At the time
of partition, Pakistan had lost Gurdaspur, Ferozpur and certain
disputed parts of Punjab as well as valuable territories in the East,
notably Assam and Tripura. Likewise in district Amritsar, Muslim
majority areas that we lost, spread from Lahore to the suburbs
of Amritsar... It has taken 20 years and two wars to establish
the separate entity of our state with its population of over 120
million, and yet there are people who still lament the partition
of the sub-continent, portraying Pakistan as prodigal son who
will someday return to the bosom of Bharat Mata... India wants
breathing space in which to deal firmly with dissident elements.
She would like to crush the Nagas and Mizos, who are close to
East Pakistan, suppress the South and the Sikhs, contain pockets
of discontent in Rajputana and break the spirit of 60 million
Indian Muslims’

ZAB's resentment against what he sees as India’s hegemony
recurs throughout his writings and speeches. His deep-rooted hurt
at Pakistan's weak responses and capitulation to India became the
trigger which catapulted him into the political arena. It played
out in the theatre of war in 1965.

India-Pak skirmishes reached Srinagar between 10-13 August
1965. Government of India issued strong protest against Pakistan
violating the Line of Control. As Pakistan’s Foreign Minister,
ZAB denied the charge in strong words. On 16 August 1965,

The book lies in 70 Clifton Library
RISE OF THE STAR «19

Pakistan entered Kargil and conflicts occurred in Chhamb,
Medhar, Poonch, Uri and Thethwal. Pakistani armies advanced
till Joriyan. On 6 September 1965, India crossed the international
border and opened war fronts in Sialkot, Lahore and Sindh. The
1965 war began.

ZAB did not, publicly at least, take the credit for starting
the war with India in 1965. However, as subsequent disclosures
were to reveal, he was the chief proponent of a forward policy
directed at forcing India’s hand over Kashmir. Thus, in accordance
with ‘Operation Gibraltar’ in August 1965, Pakistan had infiltrated
trained ‘guerrillas’ into Kashmir whose task was to provoke an
armed uprising in the troubled valley.” Unhappily for ZAB,
‘Gibraltar’ was an unqualified fiasco. The Indian forces had
responded in full measure not only to meet Pakistan's offensive
in Kashmir, but had escalated the conflict by launching an attack
against Pakistan itself. While Ayub Khan favoured limited and
short military adventure, he had no desire for a full-scale war
which neither the US nor the Soviet Union would support despite
their own differences. The war would only give satisfaction to
China. Thus, the 17-day war was brought to an abrupt end in
September.

Fifty years after the 1965 war, at the age of 92, Dr Mubashir
Hasan speaks with sharp recall of his deep personal feelings as
eyewitness to the India-Pakistan war:

“The 1965 war between India and Pakistan was to leave a deep
imprint on the psyche of the people of Pakistan, especially along
the eastern border of the country. I too was profoundly affected.
The Indian army was within 12 miles of my home; I could hear
the booming of the guns and regretted the inadequate preparation
of the Pakistan Army. While I was opposed to the regime of the

7 Altaf Gavhar, Foreword’ in M. Asghar Khan's, The First Round: Indo-Pakistan
War, 1965 (London, 1979)
20 « BORN TO BE HANGED

military dictator, Field Marshal Ayub Khan, I offered my services
to the Commander-in-Chief, General Musa Khan for war duty,
an offer which he declined’

ZAB’s speech as Pakistan's foreign minister at the emergency
meeting of the UN Security Council on 22 September 1965
launched his star on Pakistan's political firmament. He began by
asserting that Pakistan was a small country. ‘You have only to
look at a map of the world and see our size to be aware of our
resources and our ability” He defines India as a ‘great monster,
always ‘given to aggression. He recounts its aggression against
Junagadh, Manavadar, Mongrol, Hyderabad and Goa. ‘Pakistan,
according to Indian leaders, is its enemy number one. We have
always known that India is determined to annihilate Pakistan’

At the UNSC meeting, ZAB announced the cessation
of hostilities by Pakistani forces. But before making the
announcement, he made sure that he had put across what was
his deepest conviction. ‘We are resolved to fight for our honour, to
fight for Pakistan, because we are victims of aggression. Aggression
has been committed against the soil of Pakistan. Irrespective of
our size, irrespective of our resources, we have the resolve, we
have the will to fight because ours is a just cause. Ours is a
righteous cause. He went on to speak words which would echo
in the region for decades. ‘We will wage a war for a thousand
years, a war of defence’

With these lines, he raised the stature of his country and
made the world sit up in grudging admiration of the grit of
this fiery orator from a country which was on the discard list of
most nations: ‘This is the last chance for the Security Council to
put all its force, all its energy, all its moral responsibility behind
a fair and equitable and honorable solution of the Jammu and
Kashmir dispute. History does not wait for councils, organizations
or institutions, just as it does not wait for individuals... Let me
tell the Security Council on behalf of my Government, that if now,
RISE OF THE STAR «21

after this last chance that we are giving the Security Council, it
does not put its full force, full moral responsibility and full weight
behind an equitable and honourable settlement of the Jammu and
Kashmir dispute, Pakistan will have to leave the United Nations. In
leaving the United Nations Pakistan will be fulfilling the Charter
of the United Nations?

He then stated the reason why Pakistan was created; its basic
principle was to bring about a permanent settlement between
the two major communities. ‘For seven hundred years we sought
to achieve equilibrium between the people of the two major
communities, and we believed eventually that the only way to
live in lasting peace with India was to establish our homeland,
to establish a country smaller in area, but nevertheless capable of
having a relationship, a modus vivendi, with a great and powerful
neighbour. That was one of the prime factors responsible for the
creation of Pakistan. He gave example of Sweden and Norway,
which had to separate to get closer. By the same token, he
explained, ‘a separate country, Pakistan, would enable a permanent
peace, a permanent understanding, between the people of both
countries.

He spoke of the limited resources of both the countries, which
need to be deployed for development of the people. ‘It is not
the law of God that people in Asia and Africa should be poor...
We want to break the barriers of poverty—we want to give our
people a better life, we want our children to have a better future’

He speaks of his country’s respect and regard for people of
India and its hope that separation would have brought them closer.
The basic principle that areas occupied by Muslim majority would
form Pakistan, he said, was accepted by the Indian leaders. ‘All
we ask is to live in peace, friendship and goodwill with India on

#Speech delivered atthe UN Security Council on 22 September 1965 on Kashmir
Issue.
22 « BORN TO BE HANGED

the basis of the understanding and agreements which the Indian
Government and the Indian leaders themselves solemnly pledged
to my people and my country.

Passionately appealling to stop the war of aggression, he said,
“Today weare fightinga war, a war imposed on us by India, a naked
predatory unwarranted aggression by 450 million people against
100 million people, a war of chauvinism and aggrandizement
by a mighty neighbour against a small country. We do not want
to be exterminated... But today our cities are being bombed
indiscriminately by the might of India..’

He later asked India to honour its commitments, pledges and
promises to the people of Pakistan. Having said that, he came to
the unresolved issue of Jammu and Kashmir. Perhaps this is one
of the most iconic speeches by any foreign minister at the UN
Security Council. ZAB uttered these words to representatives of
world powers. The following statements echo Bhutto's frustration
at the negligence of the world towards Pakistan while it was
confronting India during the 1965 war.

‘Jammu and Kashmir is not an integral part of India and has
never been an integral part of India. It is a disputed territory
between India and Pakistan. It is more a part of Pakistan than
it can ever be of India, with all its eloquence and with all its
extravagance with words. The people of Jammu and Kashmir
are part of the people of Pakistan in blood, in flesh, in life—kith
and kin of ours, in culture, in geography, in history and in every
way and in every form... We will wage a war for 1,000 years,
a war of defence. I told that to the Security Council a year ago
when that body, in all its wisdom and in all its power, was not
prepared to give us a resolution... But the world must know
that the 100 million people of Pakistan will never abandon their
pledges and promises. The Indians may abandon their pledges
and promises—we shall never abandon ours. Irrespective of our
size and resources, we shall fight to the end
RISE OF THE STAR «23

The anger which was simmering all through the speech burst
out and his words hit hard both India and UN. ‘We are grateful
to all of you for whatever you have done to uphold the cause of
justice, because, finally and ultimately, justice must prevail. We
believe, more than ever, that justice is bound to prevail for the
people of Jammu and Kashmir. Five million people must have
the right to decide their own future. Why should they be made
an exception?’

The debate tossed up the issue to heights beyond the sky which
stretched over the UN dome when he asked, ‘Should the whole
phenomenon of self-determination, stretching from Asia and
Africa, apply to the whole world except to the people of Jammu
and Kashmir? Are they some outcastes of an Indian society? Are
they some untouchable pariahs that they should not be given the
right of self-determination, that they should not be allowed to
have the right to their own future? The whole world believes in
the right of self-determination. Must it be denied to the people
of Jammu and Kashmir merely because power must prevail over
principle? Power shall never prevail over principle. Finally and
ultimately, principle must prevail over power. This is a Christian
concept, it is an Islamic concept, and it is a civilized concept’

He then avers that in this matter India was isolated with the
whole of Asia and Africa supporting the right of self-determination
of the people of Kashmir. Listing the countries which support
Pakistan, he said, ‘On the one hand, you have the whole world
arrayed on the side of the cause of right and justice and morality,
and, on the other hand, you have a war machine, an arrogant
and chauvinistic state breaking its pledges, breaking its promises
and wanting to destroy the will and the spirit of a people. The
will and spirit of our people can never be destroyed. Let me tell
you: you can have one ceasefire, you can have another ceasefire,
but the 100 million people of Pakistan shall face extermination
rather than forsake their principles or allow their principles to
24 = BORN TO BE HANGED

be negated and destroyed by sheer force and power’

The President's message was lying untouched on his desk, he
did not once look at it while he spoke. There was total silence
in the Security Council. But the time had come when, having
exonerated himself, he would read what was written by his head of
state. ‘T have the honour to transmit the following message from
the President of Pakistan, which I received from Rawalpindi at
2 oclock (which, is 11 0’ clock W.PS.T.) today (22 September 1965):

Pakistan considers Security Council Resolution 211 of 20
September as unsatisfactory. However, in the interest of
international peace and in order to enable the Security
Council to evolve a self-executing procedure, which will lead
to an honourable settlement of the root cause of the present
conflict—namely, the Jammu and Kashmir dispute—I have
issued the following order to the Pakistan armed forces. They
will stop fighting as from 12.05 hours West Pakistan Time
today. As from that time they will not fire on enemy forces
unless fired upon, provided the Indian Government issues
similar orders to its armed forces. Please accept, Excellences,
the assurances of my highest consideration.

Anyone else in this situation would have concluded his speech at
this point, not ZAB. It was an extraordinary display of confidence
fuelled by anger, which made him continue, drawing the Security
Council's attention to its own cardinal weakness. After reading the
message, he continued, ‘But a cessation of hostilities is not enough.
The Security Council—the most important organ of the United
Nations—must now address itself to the heart of the problem.
For 18 years it has played and toyed with the future of Kashmir.
It can no longer make a plaything or a toy out of five million
people. It is the moral responsibility of the Security Council to
address itself to a meaningful, a lasting solution of the problem
of Jammu and Kashmir’
RISE OF THE STAR «25

He reminded the Security Council that the last time he was
here it was not prepared to give Pakistan a piece of paper called a
resolution. The Security Council had called it a dead and dormant
issue. ‘This can never be a dead issue, it can never be dormant’

The speech to UNSC was followed six days later on 28
September by a much longer speech to the General Assembly
which focused on the Kashmir dispute. First he laid down the
basic principle; ceasefire this time must lead to a final settlement
of the grave political problem underlying the conflict of the future
of the State of Jammu and Kashmir.

He gave historical precedents of self-determination such as
Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria expressly based on the principle
of ascertaining and respecting the wishes of the people involved.
To deny people their right to choose their own destiny as India
denies it to the people of Jammu and Kashmir, the excuse given
is that they are building multiracial or multireligious societies
and if they permit self-determination of one group or area their
whole State may disintegrate. In pleading this excuse, they try to
exploit the fear of dismemberment among many sovereign States.

He then quoted words of one of the foremost Indian
ideologues, Jayaprakash Narayan which vindicate his argument,

If we are so sure of the verdict of the people of Kashmir,
why are we so opposed to giving them another opportunity
to reiterate it? The answer given is that this would start
the process of disintegration of India. Few things that have
been said in the course of this controversy are more silly
than this one. The assumption behind the argument is that
the States of India are held together by force and not by
the sentiment of a common nationality. It is an assumption
that makes a mockery of the Indian nation and a tyrant of
the Indian State.

He referred to the United Nations Commission for India and
26 « BORN TO BE HANGED

Pakistan. He said that the plan embodied in the Commission
(UNCIP) resolutions of 13 August 1948 and 5 January 1949
provided for a ceasefire and the demarcation of a ceasefire line;
the demilitarization of the state of Jammu and Kashmir; and a
free and impartial plebiscite under the auspices of the UN to
determine the question of the accession of the State to India or
Pakistan. It was upon acceptance of both resolutions by India
and Pakistan that hostilities ceased on 1 January 1949. Then, as
now, the ceasefire was meant to be a prelude to a permanent
settlement, which was to be achieved through a plebiscite under
UN auspices after a synchronized withdrawal of forces.

Confronting India’s stand, he said that the whole history of the
Jammu and Kashmir dispute is India’s exploitation of the ceasefire,
the first part of the agreement, for evading the implementation
of the other two parts, rather than facilitating them.

‘Butthe non-performance of an agreementby one party cannot
render it invalid or obsolete. If it did, there would be no order in
international life and the entire basis of the United Nations Charter
would be undermined. Even though the agreement embodied in
the two United Nations resolutions was not implemented by India,
the Security Council repeatedly made clear its binding nature as
an agreement and affirmed that its provisions were recognised
and accepted by both India and Pakistan’

ZAB's speech at the UN changed the history of Pakistan.
Emerging as a national hero, he became immensely popular,
especially in those districts where Indian bombs had fallen during
the 1965 war. ‘His speech was delivered on the world stage, which
stunned the most powerful countries, says Mubashir Hasan.

In January 1966, a few months after ZAB’s speech at the
UN, India and Pakistan met at Tashkent under the watchful eye
of the Russian President. The Indian delegation was headed by
Lal Bahadur Shastri and the Pakistan delegation by Ayub Khan.
The venue of the meeting was a hotel in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.
RISE OF THE STAR = 27

There is a Pakistan Archives photo of General Ayub Khan and
Lal Bahadur Shastri; behind them is a third figure, a glum-faced
Zulfikar Ali Bhutto.

Newspaper Mashrig in Pakistan reported: "When Pakistan
rejected the Indian compromise formula, Presidents Kosygin and
Ayub held a discussion, the content of which was not revealed.
Bhutto being the greatest impediment to this agreement was
excluded from this meeting. Everybody knew that Bhutto was
very unhappy with Tashkent.

Kuldip Nayar, resident editor of The Statesman, reported:
‘Bhutto was in a sour mood from the beginning. All the Pakistan
delegates greeted Shastri’s inaugural speech with loud cheers,
Bhutto, however, sat passively with his arms crossed’ He wrote
how ZAB was kept at a distance throughout by Ayub. After the
inaugural speech, when the three leaders walked out to meet in
a private room, ZAB tried to join them, but with a motion of his
eye Ayub stopped him. Anger was large on the foreign minister's
face. He insisted that Kashmir be included for the reason that
no peace between India and Pakistan was possible until this was
settled. None of his suggestions were taken on board.

ZAB threatened to return to Pakistan and take the nation into
confidence. His plea to Ayub Khan was to the effect, ‘Accept my
resignation and let me go back to Larkana; and I cannot work
with you anymore. Being placed in a very tight spot, Ayub Khan
pleaded with him not to resign or leave. He said, ‘If you resign
at this time, the opposition will take advantage and there will
be a chaos in the country with the result that both India and
Russia will intervene’ Under great stress, ZAB stayed back for
a day in Tashkent, but could no longer continue in Rawalpindi.
He returned home to Larkana.

Pakistan Times reported ZAB’s statement which was issued
from his home. ‘Although the Tashkent declaration has resumed
the dialogue between India and Pakistan but no amount of
28 « BORN TO BE HANGED

platitudes can substitute or detract from the imperative need
for a permanent settlement of the tragic dispute over Jammu &
Kashmir?

A year after ZAB left Ayub Khan's government, he wrote his
book, The Myth of Independence. The dispute over Kashmir, he
argued, was no ordinary territorial dispute. If Pakistan were to
settle for peace without securing the right of self-determination
for the people of Kashmir, it would be the first step in the
establishment of Indian hegemony in South Asia, with smaller
states reduced to the slatus of Indian satellites.”

It was the emotion behind the glum face which ultimately
made ZAB Quaid-e-Awam (Leader of masses). His popularity
soared when he alleged appeasement at the 1966 peace treaty
signed at Tashkent by President Ayub Khan of Pakistan and
Indian Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri. Serious irreconcilable
differences surfaced between the foreign minister and president
of Pakistan.

Mubashir Hasan recalls, ‘At Tashkent, ZAB put up his resistance
to the discussion and commitment leading to the agreement
through body language, which was accusatory throughout” What
Bhutto used here has been described as ‘emotional nuance’. Floyd
Henry Allport, the father of Social Psychology describes emotional
nuance ‘as an attitude to feel and react in a highly specific fashion
towards another human being’

Syeda Sara Abbas wrote in her paper titled ‘Deliberative
Oratory in the Darkest Hour: Style Analysis of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto's
speech at the Security Council’: ‘Using emotional nuance shows
a deep understanding of the audience, message and purpose
because it is tailored to each individual. The audience may feel

The Myth of Independence, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto (Oxford University Press, 1969).
®Social Psychology, Allport, Floyd Henry, Routledge/Thoemmes. 1994: 96. Web.
30 July 2010.
RISE OF THE STAR » 29

that the speaker is addressing them individually. It is interesting
to see how and why Bhutto used emotional nuance. His words
reflected the ambivalent relationship between India and Pakistan
from the Pakistani viewpoint. She further writes about Bhutto's
understanding of his audience, message and purpose in campaign
discourse. How expertly he played to his audience’s expectations!
He knew how to cajole his audience and used emotional nuances
to communicate with them at several levels.

Husain Haqqani writes that both countries needed peace
before they could progress but, Bhutto like most Pakistanis
particularly felt ‘that India had not truly recognized partition*

Several scholars have written about Bhutto's spectacular grip
on discourse. Anwar H. Syed writes that ‘Bhutto's discourse was
his legacy and that his conduct was a mirror in which Pakistanis
could view themselves’* Syed Zulfikar Gilani writes that ‘his
discourse cultivated his audiences need for identity and for
a redeemer or messiah;®> Akmal Hussain writes that ‘Bhutto
cultivated his charisma and encouraged audience participation
through rhetorical questions and rhythm

Tashkent runs as a theme throughout the Pakistan People’s
Party (PPP) era. ZAB was against Ayub Khan, whose hurried
peace with India and the entire apparatus was evident from his
sullen body language and sulking stance. On 1 January 1969,
when ZAB was in prison, J.A. Rahim, the acting chairman of
PPP, wrote to Dr Mubashir Hasan about Tashkent: “The positive

pakistan: Between the Mosque and Military, Husain Haqqani, Washington
D.C.:Carnegie Endowment for International Peace: 2005. 87, 88-90.

The Discourse and Politics of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, Anwar H. Syed, Palgrave
Macmillan, 1992, p 253-259.

ZA. Bhutto's leadership: A psycho-social view, Gilani, Syed Zulfikar,
Contemporary South Asia Vol. 3 (1994). 232. Web. 30 Jan., 2010.

34 Akmal Hussain, ‘Charismatic Leadership and Pakistan's Politics. Economic and
Political Weekly, January 1989. p 136-137.
30» BORN TO BE HANGED

demand should be voiced that the Tashkent Declaration should be
repudiated because the Presidents signature was obtained under
duress... Another point to be noted, had it not been for ZAB’s
opposition to Tashkent Declaration, Government of Pakistan
would, by this time, have buried the right of self determination
of the people of Kashmir. Mr Bhutto has been thrown in jail
because he may have revealed the truth about Tashkent and also
because he is President Ayub Khan's most powerful rival in the
coming elections. Again in January 1969 he wrote that it will be *
three years since signing of the ‘shameful Tashkent Declaration,
it is an anniversary of national shame’

The popular sentiments at the time were, ‘Break the chains of
Tashkent, ‘Repudiate Tashkent Declaration, and ‘No to Tashkent’

About 50 years after 1965 Indo-Pak war, in 2014, Mubashir
Hasan wrote its oral history in the form of a small book Awami
Leader which he dedicated to the ‘innocent awam’ of Pakistan.
It was his political theory about what were the ingredients of
a mass leader. It analyzed four mass leaders—Gandhi, Jinnah,
Mujibur Rahman and ZAB. These South Asian leaders were
ranged alongside each other to determine what constituted their
appeal to millions. His theory was that these men reached the
pinnacle only after they had scoured public consciousness and
discovered what the masses were willing to die for. What they
discovered may or may not have matched their personal belief
but they had found the key to the hearts of the masses. Their
next move was to find its best expression which could move the
awam to tears, embed their imprint on their hearts, and thereby
impel their adoration. Their journey as Awami Leaders would
thus kick-start.

Mubashir Hasan recalls the one and only time he was face-
to-face with Mohammad Ali Jinnah. It was 23 March 1940. A
jalsa was arranged at Minto Park (now Jinnah Park) at which the
Pakistan Resolution was passed. There were impassioned speeches
RISE OF THE STAR «31

byallbig leaders. Atits conclusion, Mubashir Hasan and his friend
Hameed Nizami, founder of the fortnightly Nawa-i-Wagqt which
was launched that very day, were collecting papers from the table
at which the leaders had sat. As a souvenir, they picked up the
pad on which Mr Jinnah had made some marks. What they saw
at that moment was history in the making. Quaid-e-Azam was
thumping an activists back while getting down from the stage
with these immortal words, ‘So... you have your Pakistan now...
Are you happy? Jinnah had discovered and targetted the fire that
had been blazing in their hearts for 83 years. He was the Awami
leader standing on the pinnacle.

In 2012, Mubashir Hasan got interviews conducted in Lahore
with people from a cross section of the city who expressed the
popular feelings at the time. The predominant sentiment was
public disillusionment with Ayub Khan’s Tashkent betrayal. ‘Ayub
Khan's time had ended Bhutto's had begun, said Raja Riaz, who
was lifelong PPP activist. After his speech at United Nations he
was acclaimed in streets as the undisputed national leader. Munno
Bhai, the popular leftist columnist, felt that during 1965 war,
for the first and probably last time, people of the country were
united. They had first believed Ayub Khan's propaganda that, in
a few days, the green hilali parcham (crescent flag) would be
hoisted over Red Fort. In September 1965, Ayub Khan had given
a slogan in the name of Islam, ‘Kis quom ko lalkara hai/ Jiska
Kalma la llaah llallah.’ ‘Pure fallacy, wishful thinking. Munno
Bhai spat, ‘We went to UN for ceasefire and then came Tashkent.
Ayub Khan signed the agreement ignoring the vehement protest
of his Foreign Minister.” These two blows hit hard evoking howls
of protest which were expressed by Munno Bhai. ‘He was a wise,
incisive leader, who had seen Ayub Khan trample public sentiment
bysigning Tashkent. He sensed his growing massappeal especially
after his landmark anti-India UN speech, when the black and
white camera captured his storming out of the UN. He was about
32« BORN TO BE HANGED

tobe anointed as hero and king. ZA B's informal manner of public
address during which he would be simply dressed in a shalwar
suit, a scarf thrown around his neck, his sleeves rolled up became
a hallmark, which won hearts of the people.

The book is the most authentic record of the common public
sentiment during those tumultuous days. At the pitch of the 1965
war, people wanted to form a citizen's militia.** Ayub Khan, whose
popularity had plummeted, momentarily gained ground because
he spoke to the nation promising confrontation with India. But
Sufi Iftikhar, humble PPP worker, recalled the rapt attention
with which people listened to ZAB on radio broadcast. ‘It was
as if he was giving voice to the emotions which were surging
in our hearts. Tashkent was the greatest betrayal, it was Bhutto
who gave us a glimmer of hope’ These twin follies of ceasefire
and Tashkent Agreement stripped Ayub Khan of all support; in
public perception he became ‘murderer of aspirations’ Communist
leader, Mushtaq Ahmed Raj said, ‘ZAB understood what people
wanted. Outwardly he seemed to support the US but at heart he
was a communist. When Ayub Khan declared ceasefire, lightning
struck us and then...came the moment when ZAB spoke at UN
Security Council. It brought him on a massive wave to the gullies
of Pakistan as its Awami Leader’ Many years later, in February
2017, Mubashir Hasan explained his leader's strategy, ‘Bhutto
Sahib spoke at length against India; he actually concealed the
presidential offer of peace which he had received from Islamabad.

*Citizen’s militia was to crop up time and again in the context of Pakistan's lack
of strategic depth vis-a-vis India. On 3 january 1969, ).A. Rahim was to write
to Mubashir Hasan in the context of the popular demand for Citizen's Army or
Citizens Militia. "If the thin line of defence is overrun, the whole country will fall
prey to a hostile army just because there is no geographic depth which can be
utilized by Pakistan forces to regroup. If, however, the people were armed, the
enemy will be faced with resistance everywhere, the nation could fight back. The
militia makes up for the lack of depth.’
RISE OF THE STAR » 33

It was at the end of the historic speech that he transmitted the
order. He had thereby exonerated himself from the blame’

‘In Lahore, the air resounded with cries of “Crush India”,
Mushtaq Ahmed Raj continued, ‘People were marching towards
Wagah. The General still continued to mislead the populace as
if the nation was at the cusp of victory. ZAB took siyasat to the
gullies and mohallas thereby giving importance and dignity to
us. People were sick of Ayub Khan's false bravado. Many times
over the next several months ZAB made public declarations that
he would expose the secret of Tashkent. His promise raised very
high expectations; people kept urging him but he never made
any revelation’

‘Future belonged to ZAB. He was the hope of the masses;
when he had arrived from Pindi to Lahore, the massive crowds,
which received him, were not mobilized by the party, they had
come entirely on their own. He never let the masses down. That
is why even Himalaya wept when they hanged this man’ Kamran
Islam, lifelong worker and keen observer, spoke these words. ‘In
Punjab he exuded the Punjabi style; he began what was called
“tharra siyasat” (bazaar politics).

Waliur Rahman, trade unionist, recounted how hundreds
used to crowd around the radio listening to his speeches; their
understanding was limited but their clapping was limitless. He
said, At the UN when he declared 1000-years war he had become
our hero’ Senior journalist and editor Masood Ashar declared,
‘There never was a leader of his calibre. Highly educated and
intelligent, he towered above all” Abdur Rauf Malik said, “There
was one section of the military, which blessed the “messiah” and
wanted to see the end of Ayub Khan’

Tariq Waheed’s expression was poetic, ‘Bhutto, anchor of
our dying hope. Lodestar of our desires’ Zahid Islam, political
activist from old times talked of the youthful minister taking full
advantage of ‘Crush India’ slogan. ‘It was we who were “crushed”
34« BORN TO BE HANGED

post Tashkent but Bhutto played his masterstroke by declaring a
1000-year war. President of hawker’s union Roozi Khan said, ‘There
was apprehension about what Ayub Khan would do in Tashkent.
Generals don’t understand politics. They are unable to configure
roundtables. Only Bhutto knew his politics but he was ignored at
Tashkent; Ayub Khan was actually in awe of his Foreign Minister's
abilities” Ghulam Rasool Rahi, party worker in Baghbanpura said
that people saw him as a ray of hope. “This man, they averred, ‘will
represent our sentiments in the corridors of power’

His speech won acclaim from all over Pakistan. M.A. Azam
from Dacca was eloquent in praise of ZAB's performance at the
UN: ‘One of the greatest heroes of the war and of peace is our
Foreign Minister, ZAB. Hats off to this brave son of Pakistan.
At this decisive hour of the nation, Mr Bhutto has risen to an
unprecedented height. He has raised the prestige of Pakistan at
home and abroad. The war has been a proud rediscovery of self
for every Pakistani. Our peace will be a glorious rediscovery for
our diplomatic leader, ZAB*®

ZAB was eloquent but also had the ability to state everything
in few simple sentences. His speeches at the UN in 1965 and
1971 reflected the sentiment of his people, their anger, frustration
and anxiety about the future of the country and the urgent need
to define the role they could play in improving their social and
economic condition. His fiery speech, almost single-handedly,
dragged Pakistan back its feet and restored the nation’s morale.
In the words of Peter Niesewand, ‘Bhutto was, to them (masses) a
world statesman who gave Pakistan confidence and respectability,
a man who ensured, that when he spoke, world leaders listened.”

¥Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Sayasi Sawaneh Hayat (Vol-1), Rasheed Akhtar Nadvi, 1974,
Islamabad: ldaara Ma’araf-e-Milli.

Peter Niesewands article titled ‘A vain autocrat who gave his nation confidence’
published on 5 April 1979 by the Guardian.
RISE OF THE STAR «35

Lawrence Ziring®® rightly argues that ‘Bhutto happened to
be at the right place at the right time in a third world country
where the political culture guaranteed the rise of single leader’

Then came the 1971 war between India and Pakistan.
Pakistan suffered a fatal fracture followed by genocide, civil war,
migration and territorial reconfiguration. This national trauma
finds expression in ZAB’s statement at the UNSC on 12 December
and 15 December 1971. This statement is the cry of a wounded
country drawing in a few word-strokes a stark image of the
national viewpoint. It brings forward the major complexities of the
event. Pakistan termed the war as an Indian-Russian conspiracy,
not a local movement. “This binary view is reflected in ZAB’s
statement, writes Syeda Sara Abbas.”

His passionate speech in UNSC on 15 December 1971 is
remembered as his ‘Farewell Speech to the UN Security Council’
in which he lashes out at the actions of the Council for neglecting
the pleas of Pakistan to explain their position on the fall of Dacca.

First the extraordinary conditions in which Bhutto made his
statement before the UN need to be assessed. By the time ZAB
addressed the Security Council on 12 December 1971, it had
become clear that developments in East Pakistan had taken place
far faster than he had anticipated or was given to understand
Pakistan was dismembered and considerable territory on the
western front was overrun and occupied by India. Moreover,
Pakistan at this point was a country without a viable government,
money, international policy or even a constitution.

This situation was complex because it involved gross human
rights violations plus a territorial conflict between two long-
standing enemies. East Pakistan was neither a colonial territory

3Lawrence Ziring, “The Campaign before the Storm’ Asian Survey. Vol 17, No. 7.
(Jul.1977): 582. Web. Apr.15, 2010. Lawrence Ziring isalsothe author of ‘Pakistan
in the twentieth century: a political history.

Deliberative Oratory in the Darkest Hour’ by Syeda Sara Abbas.
36 « BORN TO BE HANGED

nor a separate nation. However the violations of murder, rape
and arson were severe enough to deem it an international crisis.
Because of war crimes, the issue came back to the Council. Abbas
further says that the movement between the two forums, the
General Assembly and the Security Council, revealed a dismal
understanding and weak handling of the war on Pakistan's side.
Pakistani generals drew analogies between 1965 and 1971 and
expected the war would end inconclusively as in 1965. They
neglected diplomatic channels until the last week. Rafi Raza,
who accompanied Bhutto to the Security Council, says they came
too late. Bhutto arrived at the UN on 10 December when the
Pakistan Army began suffering reversals and the Soviet Union
began to appeal for a hearing for the Bangladeshi representatives.
ZAB appealed to the council to condemn Indian aggression and
order a ceasefire. US and China, Pakistan's allies, did little to help.
Meanwhile, back in the Security Council, the members proposed
new resolutions that revealed Pakistan’s deteriorating position.
The three new draft resolutions, the Polish, the Russian and the
Anglo-French recommended a ceasefire with troop withdrawal
and power handed over to East Pakistanis. Pakistan's choices were
grim—it could accept any resolution or wait for the army to
surrender. Finally, on 15 December, ZAB requested the president
of Security Council to convene a special session where, in the
words of Khalid Hasan", he ‘made the most emotional, though
well-prepared, speech of his career’ The fall of Dacca the next
day put an end to all the deliberations.

The 15 December 1971 statement was made in extraordinary
conditions because of Pakistan's position and Bhutto's own status.
Pakistan was not only on the losing side but was poised to lose

®Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and Pakistan 1967-1977, Rafi Raza, Oxford University Press,

p 118.
“Khalid Hasan, ‘Did Bhutto break up Pakistan?’
RISE OF THE STAR » 37

half its territory. It would face dismemberment similar to that
experienced by the Ottoman Empire in 1921 and Germany in
1945 and would be divided in two smaller countries, Territorial
dismemberment would accompany military surrender and
national humiliation. Pakistan would suffer the disgrace of the
biggest surrender in military history and 93,000 men would
be taken as prisoners of war. The war meant the end of united
Pakistan. There was also the problem of breaking such news to a
deeply emotional public that had believed in the invincibility of
its armed forces and in the superiority of its culture. There was
also the problem of Bhutto's own status. Unlike Swaran Singh, his
Indian counterpart, he was both diplomat and leader and both
roles were in direct conflict. Husain Haqqani argues that Bhutto's
trip to the UN was arranged by the Army to put a civilian fagade
on a military debacle. The Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) realized
that schism was inevitable and they would need a charismatic,
civilian scapegoat to blame for the break-up of Pakistan.” Bhutto
was a deputy prime minister of a martial law regime that itself
lacked legitimacy. Ironically, he had no fiat and had been almost
recalled on his way to New York.

On 12 December 1971, ZAB said, “The real trouble started
not with what happened in Dacca on 24 March or 26 March.
The real, fundamental trouble started when the Treaty (Indo-
Soviet Treaty)" was concluded and we had to face a new India,
supported by the power, the prestige, the spirit, the resources,
the technology and the arms of the Soviet Union.

pakistan: Between the Mosque and Military, Husain Haqqani, Washington D.C.:
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace: 2005. 87, 88-90. Web. Aug. 15.2010.
Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and Pakistan 1967-1977, Rafi Raza, p 122

“The Indo-Soviet Treaty of Peace, Friendship and Cooperation was a treaty
signed between India and the Soviet Union in August 1971 that specified mutual
strategic cooperation. The treaty was later adopted to the Indo-Bangladesh Treaty
of Friendship and Cooperation in 1972.
38+ BORN TO BE HANGED

He then asks, ‘I would really like to know what crime or what
wrong Pakistan has committed against the Soviet Union that my
country should be dismembered. Because the Soviet Union has
bad relations with China? Chinas relations with the Soviet Union
are their relations... We do not want to have good relations with
China at the cost of the Soviet Union, nor do we want to have
good relations with the Soviet Union at the cost of China. But
as a result of our good relations with China, we are being not
only penalized, but treated in a fashion in which limb by limb
we are being taken apart. This is unprecedented... Why should
we be the victims? Why should we get into this nutcracker? The
trouble is that we belong to Asia’

He urged leaders of the world to stand by their principles.
About France, which had abstained from taking sides, ZAB
said, “The relations between Pakistan and France have been so
good that we are really pained by Frances present attitude in
claiming that they are working behind the scenes. When there
is no scene left, where will “behind the scenes” be? France must
take a positive moral position for national unity and integrity.
We are not enemies of France; we are good friends of France.
As far as we are concerned, Mr Permanent Representative, the
die has been cast. You must cast your die. Sometimes there will
be the east wind; sometimes there will be the west wind. Do
not go by the east wind; do not go by the west wind. Go by a
principle. The principle is that Pakistan is a united, sovereign
state, and an attempt is now being made to dismember Pakistan
by physical force’

He went on, ‘India’s Foreign Minister said that West Pakistan
had exploited East Pakistan—the resources and the riches of
East Pakistan—and that that is basically the reason why we
have come to the present situation. This is a very fundamental
question. Exploitation is not a phenomenon of individuals or
regions. Exploitation takes place as the result of a social system.
RISE OF THE STAR » 39

It is the social system that exploits. And the same social system
basically prevails in India and Pakistan. As much as they are
making efforts in India to change their social system, we are also
doing in our country because we believe that our present social
systems are basically exploitative. The political party which I lead
contends that there was exploitation, that East Pakistan had been
exploited, as well as regions in the west, but by the social system.
The struggle was really related to the social system. We are not
denying that there were problems. But we do not say that this
means that our country should be destroyed and dismembered
by another country’

There is amazing sagacity in the manner in which he turns
the argument about exploitation on its head. Its root causes,
he avers, were identical in both countries, the fossilized social
systems within which exploitation is embedded. And then comes
his master stroke, his reference to his own political party, PPP,
which negates and derides this social system.

He continues, ‘A basic unalterable principle of international
law is non-interference in the internal affairs of other countries.
Article 2, paragraph 7 of the Charter speaks of non-interference
in the internal affairs of states. It says:

Nothing contained in the present Charter shall authorize the
United Nations to intervene in matters which are essentially
within the domestic jurisdiction of any state or shall require
Members to submit such matters to settlement under the
present Charter...

Now this is a Charter obligation. But the Indian Foreign Minister
spoke for an hour and fifteen minutes... His whole speech was
devoted to the internal affairs of Pakistan. I am glad he raised those
questions even though it constituted interference in Pakistan's
essentially domestic matters. It was as if I were to talk about
the DMK movement in Madras, about the Nagas’ or the Mizos’
40 « BORN TO BE HANGED

struggle for independence, about the plight of poor Bhutan and
Sikkim, or about the many other matters that plague India. What
is sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander. The consequences
will come to the surface soon. It is up to India. If India thinks
that Pakistan is going to be dismembered, the process is not
going to stop there. The germ is going to spread, and it is going
to spread very fast.

Having played his trump card in referring to the DMK, Nagas,
Mizos, Sikkim and Bhutan, Indias Achilles’ heel, he warns that
dismemberment won't stop with Pakistan. The germ will spread!

‘However, I will not choose to talk about the internal problems
of India. Interference in the internal affairs of another country
offends not only the Charter principle, it also violates the Bandung
principles’

On 15 December 1971, ZAB, with his voice often breaking,
told the Council that his 11-year-old son called him from Pakistan
to say, ‘Don’t come back with a document of surrender..> ZAB
continued, ‘I felt that it was imperative for me to come here and
to seek justice from the Security Council. But I must say that
the Security Council has denied my country that justice. From
the moment I arrived we have been caught by dilatory tactics’

His face streaked with tears, he walked out of the Security
Council after accusing it of ‘legalizing aggression. His parting
words to the Council, before he ripped up his notes, pushed back
his chair and rose, were:

Mr President, I am not a rat.I've never ratted in my life. I have
faced assassination attempts, I've faced imprisonment. Today
I am not ratting, but I am leaving your Security Council.
I find it disgraceful to my person and to my country to
remain here a moment longer. Impose any decision, have
a treaty worse than Versailles, legalize aggression, legalize
occupation—I will not be a party to it. We will fight. My
RISE OF THE STAR » 41

country harkens for me.…

'