GARHI KHUDA BAKSH, Pakistan: Tens of thousands of Pakistanis paid respects at the grave of former leader Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto on Saturday, the 30th anniversary of his execution at the hands of Ziaul Haq.
The Pakistan People's Party (PPP) that Bhutto founded in 1967 is once again in power, led by his son-in-law, President Asif Ali Zardari, whose government is struggling against surging militant violence and a stagnant economy.
Zardari's critics grumble that he is no match for his father-in-law, or his wife, two-time prime minister Benazir Bhutto, who was assassinated in 2007.
Speaking to a crowd of party faithful near the Bhutto family mausoleum at Garhi Khuda Baksh, in Sindh province, Zardari said he would stop militants from taking over the country and forge ahead with Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto's mission.
‘Some people say that Pakistan will disintegrate, and that it will be taken over by extremists,’ Zardari told the crowd.
‘But let me assure you that we will not let this happen,’ he said. ‘Bhutto's mission to serve Pakistan and uplift their living standards will continue.’
After he spoke, the crowd observed a brief period of silence to mark the moment when Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, 51, was hanged on a gallows at a prison in the city of Rawalpindi on what he had said was a trumped up murder charge.
Bhutto's supporters, many of them poor villagers from the flat farmland of his home province of Sindh, began streaming to his onion-domed mausoleum on Friday.
Many shouted ‘Long live Bhutto’ and ‘Bhutto lives’ as they arrived at the mausoleum where Bhutto's daughter, Benazir, and his two sons are also buried.
Both of the sons, Murtaza and Shahnawaz, died in circumstances that have never been fully explained.
‘NO COMPARISON’
Bhutto set out with zeal and confidence to restore his country after a disastrous 1971 war with India. He ruled for five years, setting the country on track to get nuclear weapons, before he was overthrown in a 1977 military coup.
An urbane aristocrat, he was the first Pakistani politician to speak directly to peasants and factory workers, making them feel that through him, they had a choice in government.
To many Pakistanis, he remains a source of inspiration.
‘Bhutto gave us a voice and courage,’ said Ghous Mehar, 55, a labourer who came by bus from the Sindh town of Hyderabad.
Mehar said he had also come to Benazir's funeral. ‘I'm not a politician but I think those were the only two leaders Pakistan has ever produced,’ he said.
Often during his days in power, Bhutto would take to the streets, rousing huge crowds to fever-pitch with wild, left-wing oratory.
His reputation as a man of the people caused considerable concern to the military, especially to the general who ousted him and went on to rule for a decade, Ziaul Haq.
The PPP has been in power at the head of a coalition government for just over a year.
Zardari, who was accused but never convicted of corruption stemming from when his wife was prime minister, is nowhere near as popular as either Zulfiqar or Benazir Bhutto.
‘There's no comparison. He's not even close,’ said one party official at the commemoration.
‘His only qualification is being Benazir Bhutto's husband,’ said the official, who declined to be identified.
Another party official complained that many members who had been close to Benazir had been sidelined.
‘There seems to be no focus on working for the common man and solving the real issues ... Let's hope and pray that Zardari does something good for the people,’ he said.
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