Nails in the coffin

Millions had mourned when Benazir Bhutto was assassinated in Rawalpindi on December 27, 2007. Her party had demanded justice, thousands of ordinary people who did not normally follow politics had been moved. The emotion at Garhi Khuda Buksh a few days later as Benazir’s coffin joined those of other family members slain before her at the mausoleum that has already turned into a shrine was visible and undoubtedly real.

Now, just under ten years after the killing that altered the political history of the country, the verdict that may mark the final chapter in the life and death of Benazir Bhutto was delivered almost in obscurity by an Anti-Terrorism Court in Rawalpindi. No senior PPP leader was present. Two elderly men, waving tattered black, green and red flags were. Their attendance marked the hold the party still held over people. The men, both clerks, had also been there when Benazir’s father was executed, not far from the spot where she was gunned down.

Senator Farhatullah Babar’s embarrassed apology some hours later for the lack of any official presence at the small courtroom made only a limited impression. Other party leaders simply expressed discontent over the verdict. In their own tweeted messages Benazir’s three children, in whose hands the future of the PPP essentially lies, demanded action against Gen Pervez Musharraf, the absconder who the court holds responsible for the murder but who continues to live in luxury overseas. There appears to be little interest in bringing him back to a country whose people he wronged in so many different ways.

The messages and the statements also do not explain why the PPP, which held power for five years following the death of Benazir, did not do more to investigate the case and discover the identity of those who devised what was clearly an immaculately planned death and then executed it without any evident hitch. The masquerade of an UN inquiry did nothing to disguise this failure to uncover evidence or to examine the sequence of events that may have led to something close to the truth emerging. Perhaps we will never know. Like the other critical murders in our country’s history, the death of Benazir Bhutto too will remain a riddle.

It is easy to blame judges when they deliver verdicts which are not specific and which lead to the release of persons many believe had some links to the crime. But judges of course can act only on the basis of what proof, what documents, what detail is placed before them. It is up to investigators to gather these pieces and put together a jigsaw which presents a picture on the basis of which the judiciary can make decisions. When the pieces are scattered, lost, or simply do not come together in any tangible pattern, expecting a definite verdict, expecting a court to deliver a judgment that holds meaning and fits in an explanation for everything that happened is unrealistic.

The killing of Benazir Bhutto, as a political leader and as an individual, was of course a tragic loss for the country. But it was especially tragic in a nation that struggles to produce leaders of any calibre, to find politicians who have intellect and the charisma that can truly bring people together. For all her flaws, Benazir undoubtedly possessed these qualities. In the bleak aftermath of her death, we have seen how badly we lack such leaders. No country can hope to survive when its leadership at every political tier is gunned down one after the other. Before Benazir, there have been others. There have also been those at lower tiers who have died, even as they attempted to bring change within their own realms of power.

In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the ANP has been particularly badly hit. This is one reason it struggles to carry on. When a situation is created which makes it virtually impossible for political leaders to walk up to people and talk to them, when rallies have to be held behind glass shields, something is stolen away from any democracy. Without contact between people and their leaders, the crucial bond which lies at the essence of any democratic governance begins to dissolve and finally disappear. In our country today, it has almost vanished. Only a thin veneer remains. The raising of slogans or the pasting of slogans on walls cannot replace this relationship.

There is still no way of knowing if the PPP or any individual intends to appeal the ATC rulings in a higher court. There is still an option to do so and perhaps assemble a team that can attempt to get to the bottom of the murder of Benazir Bhutto and with it the virtual demise of the PPP. Since her death, the party has fallen into greater and greater disarray. There are within it still individuals who clearly represent the progressive Pakistan that could redeem its standing among nations and move forward with the world. But too few amongst them have been permitted to assume rules of true responsibility.

The recent changes in leadership made by Bilawal Bhutto have pointed in this direction. Whether he can do enough to save the party he has inherited, perhaps against his will, is something that we cannot yet say. Its track record even in its home province of Sindh has not been encouraging. Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah’s attempts to make a difference have brought some improvements, but many, many more will be required.

In memory of Benazir, and perhaps in memory of the party that was created nearly five decades ago, there is some need to look towards possible light. Across the world, there are some signs that liberal, socialist leaders are making a kind of comeback. Younger people, even in the US, appear to be recognising now that the cold war is over that Soviet style communism does not socialist values an evil. Had Bernie Sanders run on the Democratic ticket against Donald Trump, we may not have been left with the chaotic, almost insane White House that today commands so much in the world. In the UK, a still shocked Conservative Party may see Jeremy Corbyn assume power once Teresa May is forced to let go of the reins she holds on to only tenuously.

There is similar movement towards change in other parts of the world. Latin America is an example, so too are European countries such as France, and Canada also suggests there is an urge for change. It is up to younger politicians in our own country to ignite a similar urge, to give people something they can look towards as a way forward. Whether or not any facts of real relevance emerge from the Benazir murder case, her exit from the political scene has led to a severe crisis of meaningful leadership. There appear to be fewer candidates able to offer any sense of direction.

The true question for Pakistan lies in whether such a leadership will be found and if so from where it will emerge. The stranglehold of the establishment does not help in allowing it to grow. But from somewhere, it needs to spring up and offer the alternatives that people so desperately need in a country wronged by its leadership over and over again.

The writer is a freelance columnist and former newspaper editor.

Email: kamilahyat@hotmail.com