Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto-The Great Leader

START OF POLITICAL CAREER

Bhutto started his political career as a member of Pakistan’s delegation to the United Nations in 1957. In 1958, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto became youngest cabinet member and was given the charge of the energy ministry by President Ayub Khan. He also headed the ministries of commerce, information and industries. Bhutto was very close to the President and advised him on several affairs.

ACHIEVEMENTS

Ad-hoc-ism is when policy has got no forethought. A proper policy is when you make choices and At that time Pakistan had no specific foreign policy. It was rather based on ad-hoc-ism. make decisions accordingly and then you plan tactics and strategies in accordance with those initiatives. When Bhutto became the foreign minister in 1962, initially having joined as commerce minister, he advocated bilateralism. Bilateralism was to maintain friendly relation with other nations in the region while simultaneously being a part of an alliance sponsored by major powers. Therefore Pakistan started looking towards the east and therefore he became the pioneer in relationships with China.

One of the greatest achievements of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto was that, on assumption of power he assigned a committee comprising 23 members of assembly to frame constitution. It was the first constitution of Pakistan which had support of all relevant parties. It was accepted on 14th August 1973 and is still in practice though with all its 18 ammendments.

Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto initiated the Pakistan’s nuclear program in reply to nuclear tests by India. This decision paid dividence for Pakistan and helped Pakistan in securing itself. It also helped Pakistan in producing energy as nuclear reactors like that in Karachi which was constructed with the help of USSR produced a great amount of energy.

Bhutto fought for democracy throught his life. He went through thick and thin in fight for the establishment of democracy in Pakistan. Bhutto was peoples’ leader and always spoke their language. He lost his life fighting for democracy as he refused to accept the dictatorship of Zia-ul-Haq.

POLICIES AND CRITICISM

Bhutto’s policies of addressing the issues at grass root level had resulted in a major backlash to such policies of Nationalization and liberalism. His liberalism was countered by Nizam-e-Mustafa movement. This was lead by students from religious seminaries who were indoctrinated in the extremist Deobandi philosophy which lead to violent demonstrations against Bhutto’s liberalism. Simultaneously his external policies were countered by severe criticism particularly from America. On 28th April 1977, while addressing general Assembly of UN, Bhutto accused USA of hatching an international conspiracy against him in an impassioned speech. “the white elephants were after his blood”. He had presented a third block on basis of Islamic Solidarity Movement, Islamic summit Conference in 1974, which provided platform where all the Muslim heads combined against the policies of USA. Its aim was to enhance the spirit of brotherhood among all Muslim countries. As a result, USA saw it as a threat against the hedge nous policies of USA.

USA was annoyed because:
· Bhutto’s policy of Neuclearization.
· Islamic solidarity block(those states that are weaker , should be supported by powerful Muslim states by sharing of resources)
· Bilateral Policy. He stated that Pakistan needs to build ties with other nations especially China to counter the hedgemony and monopoly of USA in making decisions. Along with defense pacts with USA. Ties with one country should not hinder you from creating ties with others.
These three major aspects of Bhutto’s policies brought him extreme criticism from West and particularly America.

During his reign, he frequently changed laws in order to suit his own policies and his harassment was not only directed to members of his party but also the President of PML(Pir Pagara), Asghar Khan(The tehriq chief of Tehriq-e-Istiqlal)and other PPP workers like Muhammad Hanif Ramay(CM of Punjab). He also alienated the Bugti and Marri tribes of Balochistan. He also had his differences with Khan Wali Khan of ANP. The political situation in Pakistan had gone out of his hands. Another damage to his reputation by amnesty reports. Amnesty international had been extremely critical of the political prisioners of Bhutto’s time. In the meanwhile, Bhutto had announced elections on the 7th Jan, 1977. These 2nd General elections lead to violent demonstrations by opposition for Bhutto’s government rigging in the election. General Zia-ul-Haq on 5th July, 1977 dissolved the senate and National Assembly. He imposed martial law and the constitution of 1973 was suspended.