Monday, December 31, 2007

The unifying factor in Pakistan politics

Dec.31, 2007


The unifying factor in Pakistan politics

IT might seem untoward at first look that a 19-year-old youth has been appointed chairman of Pakistan's arguably strongest party at a time when the country's in in deep crisis following the Dec.27 assassination of a prime minister who also led the party. However, the youth happens to be the son of the assassinated former prime minister and party leader, Benazir Bhutto, and the Bhutto family name is the binding factor not only for the slain leader's Pakistan People's Party (PPP) but also for a majority of Pakistanis, including many who might owe allegiance to other political groups in the country.
It was no coincidence that Benzair Bhutto named her son, Bilawal, an Oxford University student, as her successor in the event of her death. She knew well that the mantle she inherited from her father, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, had to be handed down to her son, who would be known more for his maternal legacy than anything else as he goes ahead with his political career.
The PPP's decision to honour the late leader's desire, as expressed in her will that was read out by Bilawal on Sunday, meant that the party leadership follows the bloodline for a third generation, some four decades after it was founded Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto.
On the surface, the PPP is seen risking being marginalised by opting for a "dynasty-based" succession. But such is the nature of politics in the Indian sub-continent. It has happened in India, where Indira Gandhi inherited her premiership from her father Jawaharlal Nehru and passed it on to her son Rajiv Gandhi when she was assassinated in 1983. Today, the leadership of the Congress Party rests with Sonia Gandhi, the widow of Rajiv Gandhi — who was killed in a suicide blast in 1991 — and Rahul Gandhi, son of Rajiv and Sonia Gandhi, is being groomed to take over the mantle when the conditions are right.
In Bangladesh, the two most prominent women and former prime ministers are widows of former heads of government.
In Sri Lanka, Chandrika Bandaranaike, a former president and currently a strong opposition leader, comes from a family of politicians. She inherited the politics of her father Solomon Bhanaranaike, and her mother Sirimavo Bhandaranaike, and her husband, movie star and politician Vijaya Kumaratunga.
Indeed, it would not at all be an easy ride for Bilawal, but his father Asif Ali Zardari, 51, will assist him as co-chairman of the party as announced by the PPP on Sunday.
Again, that is similar to what is happening in India. Just as Sonia Gandhi is running the Congress show to keep the place warm for Rahul, Zardari would be running the PPP show for Bilawal, who is too young to enter politics and needs to have a solid foundation in education before moving out of academics.
It is natural that his mother's politics have already turned him into politician's material. That much is evident in the few public statements he made in recent years.
When he was 16, Dilawal said in a press interview that he felt justice and democracy held the key to resolving Pakistan's problems.
Asked whether he would enter politics, he said he did not really know "but I would like to help the people of Pakistan, so I will decide when I finish my studies."
His mother's tragic death made the decision for him, and, hopefully, when the right time comes, he would be able to live up to his promise that regardless of whatever he does, he would "benefit the people of Pakistan."