New Delhi: The first elected prime minister of Pakistan was hanged in the courtyard of Rawalpindi District Jail on 4 April 1979. As the clock ticked four minutes past two in the morning, right before the hangman pulled the lever that would see Zulfikar Ali Bhutto plunge to his death, he is reported to have said, “O Lord, help me, for I am innocent.”
Forty-four years to the date, on his death anniversary, his grandson, chairman of Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) chairperson and the country’s foreign affairs minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari called it a “judicial murder” and a “black spot” on the country’s judicial system.
“Now, the third generation of the Bhutto family is awaiting justice from the Supreme Court,” he said in his message issued from the Bilawal House Media Cell.
Paying tribute to the ‘Quaid-e-Awam,’ the foreign affairs minister outlined that the presidential reference regarding the ‘judicial murder’ of Bhutto, who gave Pakistan a unanimous constitution, had been pending in the Supreme Court for the past 12 years.
“I appeal to the Supreme Court that the presidential reference sent by (former) president Asif Ali Zardari under Article 186 on April 2, 2011, should be fixed for early hearing,” Bilawal said.
The PPP is organising prayers at the district level to mark Bhutto’s death anniversary.
While Bilawal Bhutto’s comments made headlines, English mainstream media outlets like Dawn and The Express Tribune did not publish opinion pieces remembering the former prime minister. For the most part, Punjab poll elections dominated the news on 4 April. The Nation, however, carried an article, ‘Remembering Shaheed-e-Jamhuriat’ by late Benazir Bhutto’s former press secretary, Bashir Riaz.
Pakistan News channels Samaa TV, HUM News, and Abb Takk News also paid tribute to the former prime minister.
Also read: The making and unravelling of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto
Pouring tribute
Many citizens of Pakistan took to Twitter to memoralise Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, whose death bequeathed a “frequent accident” of military rule.
“One of Pakistan’s darkest moments,” said Pakistani journalist Omar R Quraishi with an old photo of Zardari on Twitter.
One of Pakistan's darkest moments – the country's most popular elected leader, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, was hung by a military dictator on a decision given by the same SC which claims to uphold the Constitution today – the stain on the country's conscience remains after 44 years pic.twitter.com/TGc9KYtMml
— omar r quraishi (@omar_quraishi) April 4, 2023
One user posted, “#ZulfikarAliBhutto lives on in every person who believes in democracy and would rather die than submit to forces attempting to destabilise the nation!”
Pakistani filmmaker Assad Zulfiqar Khan quoted Zulfikar Ali Bhutto: “The struggle for democracy is a long and difficult one. It requires sacrifice and determination. But it is worth it, because it is the only way to ensure that the people have a voice in their own destiny.”
"The struggle for democracy is a long and difficult one. It requires sacrifice and determination. But it is worth it, because it is the only way to ensure that the people have a voice in their own destiny." – Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto pic.twitter.com/enqGN35eVV
— Assad Zulfiqar Khan (@pseudorebel) April 4, 2023
Also read: Zulfikar Ali Bhutto to Imran Khan — Pakistan’s yearning for a ‘miracle man’ is its downfall
Bhuttoism of roti, kapda, makan
After deposing Bhutto on 5 July 1977, former army chief General Zia-ul-Haq imposed martial law in Pakistan.
Bhutto was tried and found guilty in 1978 of conspiring to murder his political opponent, Ahmed Raza Kasuri – an active member of the opposition in parliament and a virulent critic of Bhutto and his government.
Bilawal Bhutto pointed out on 3 April that the occasion of his grandfather’s martyrdom anniversary was a “day for renewal of pledge that the PPP would continue upholding and would not give up at any cost the democracy, the Constitution of 1973, the parliamentary supremacy, rights of workers, farmers, minorities and women, as well as tolerance and equality in the society.”
“Bhuttoism will continue to remain the beacon of light to guide us, and we will continue to struggle to provide ‘roti, kapra aur makan’ (bread, cloth and home) to every Pakistani by establishing a strong democratic system based on justice and fairness,” he pledged.