LARKANA: Pakistan Peoples Party-Shaheed Bhutto chairperson Ghinwa Bhutto has hit out at Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari and said that he takes after his paternal grandfather Hakim Ali Zardari more than maternal grandfather Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and now he has encircled himself with thieves and criminals.

Ms Bhutto said at a public meeting held to mark the 40th death anniversary of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto in Garhi Khuda Bakhsh Bhutto on Thursday that Bilawal was 30 but not free yet. “If you (Bilawal) are advocate of women’s rights then if you don’t mind I would call you Bilawal Benazir,” she said.

She said that one might ask Sanam Bhutto why she had distanced herself from her blood relations, either it was “fear” or “greed” that had compelled her to be aloof from her real family. “Shun your fear and greed and you will see Zardari in a free fall. We are real heirs of Bhuttos and will continue to fight against dictators and the corrupt,” she said.

Ms Bhutto paid tribute to dynamic leadership of Z.A. Bhutto and said no doubt Quaid-i-Azam made Pakistan but it was Bhutto who made it a nation state. “Even after braving 40 years of ups and downs you (people) have not forgotten Bhutto and showed extraordinary patience and perseverance,” she said.

‘Bilawal takes after Hakim Zardari more than Z.A. Bhutto’

It was a big tragedy that four Bhuttos had been assassinated in 40 years, she said.

She said that Z.A. Bhutto had introduced agricultural reforms, instituted successful foreign policy and converted the state into a modern and progressive state where national exchequer was meant for peoples’ welfare. It was his ideology that had sewn people in one “thread” and in turn all were with him, she said.

“Will you stand by a Bhutto or a dictator,” she asked and replied herself that Gen Ayub Khan “sold” Pakistan’s water to India, Gen Yahya had been instrumental in the dismemberment of the country and Zardari had muddied politics and peoples’ vote.

She called Nawaz Sharif and Imran Khan munshis of dictators and said that Z.A. Bhutto had given voice to people, land to landless haris, rights to labourers and taught masses that the country belonged to the people.

Amid vociferous slogans of Zardari ka Khatima — Fatima Fatima by charged workers to which she too joined her voice, she said that it was Z.A. Bhutto who hammered out honourable agreements with neighbouring countries like the Simla Accord.

About the government’s handling of border tension with India, Ms Bhutto said that Imran Khan was in such a hurry to release the Indian pilot that he did not even consult with parliament over the issue. “They [rulers] are releasing Indian pilots but keeping youth in chains,” she said.

She said quoting from Fatima Bhutto’s book Whispers of the Desert that some things could not be expressed in writing and had to be conveyed in ‘whispers’. “We want a Pakistan where men and women are equal, farmers are masters of their land and Kashmiris are masters of Kashmir,” she said.

The congregation adopted 13 resolutions, calling for separating politics from accountability and lifting ban on students unions. Instead of pushing minorities into a blind alley they should be brought into mainstream, a resolution said and demanded labourer’s salary should be made equal to one tola of gold. A resolution demanded equal distribution of irrigation water.

The meeting criticised Sindh government’s failure to set up wheat procurement centres and called for enforcing Z.A. Bhutto’s agricultural reforms. It condemned government’s intentions to sell off Pakistan Steel and PIA and opposed bowing to dictations of IMF and World Bank while formulating the country’s economic policies.

The gathering rejected present local bodies system and called for devolution of powers to grass-root level. A resolution slammed Indian atrocities in held-Kashmir and demanded resolving the issue in accordance with the will of Kashmiri people.

The meeting called for bringing to justice the characters who had been instrumental in the assassinations of Z.A. Bhutto, Mir Murtaza Bhutto and “awami heroes”.

PPP-SB leaders Aijaz Mangi, Sardar Taj Mohammad Domki, Chaudhry Munir, Syed Saleem Shah and others also spoke at the gathering.

Published in Dawn, April 5th, 2019