Forum Pakistan

Bhutto, Zu1fikar Ali (1928-79)
Politician / Statesman / Prime Minister of Pakistan from 1973 to 1977. Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was born into a well-to-do family of Larkana in *Sindh. His father, Sir Shahnawaz *Bhutto (1888-1957) had been a minister in the government in Bombay Pre idency and, at the time Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, Prime of partition, was the Dewan Minister of Pakistan (1973-77). of Junagarh state. Educated in Bombay, California, and Oxford and called to the Bar at Lincoln's Inn (1953), Bhutto was destined to play a prominent role in the politics of Pakistan at a crucial time. He led his own *Pakistan Peoples Party, founded in 1967, breaking the virtual monopoly of the *Muslim League in the governance of the country.

His major achievement, shortly after coming to the helm of the nation, was to negotiate peace with India, which had militarily aided former *East Pakistan in its struggle for independence. At the *Simla Conference, at the end of June 1972, he secured the Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi's agreement to the release of some 93,000 Pakistanis, mostly military personnel, whom the Indian army had taken prisoner at the surrender in Dhaka on 16 December 1971. India withdrew from approximately 5,139 square miles of Pakistani territory in the Western wing, which had been occupied during the war.
Another important event of Bhuttos term of office was the promulgation of the *Constitution of 1973. He believed in the concept of Islamic socialism, which implies that there are some common areas in socialism and the Islamic system of thought.

Bhutto's strength as a politician was his skillful handling of Pakistan's foreign relations. Z.A. Bhutto had been Foreign Minister in Ayub *Khan's government from 1963 to 1967 and also later under Yahya *Khan. Apart from the Simla Agreement negotiated with Mrs Gandhi, he secured Soviet Russia's pledge of $ 517.64 million by way of loans for the building of a steel mill in Karachi. However, the project was obstructed at various stages and the mill could not go on stream until after Bhutto's removal. Bhutto tried to mend fences with Afghanistan (see Afghanistan-Pakistan Relations) but with little success. He made a substantial contribution towards the development and strengthening of ties with China. He pulled Pakistan out of the US-sponsored SEATO and CENTO pacts, convened a well-attended summit of Islamic countries in February 1974, and proclaimed the recognition of Bangladesh, managing to persuade Shaikh Mujibur *Rahman to attend the moot.

Bhutto's problems began with his holding of general election in March 1977. His party secured an overwhelming mandate, but several prominent opposition parties, irritated by his autocratic style of governance, subverted the outcome through mass agitation, accusing Bhutto of having rigged the elections. They organised themselves under the banner of *Pakistan National Alliance and held massive street demonstrations, creating a serious law and order problem. Bhutto called upon the army to restore order, but his handpicked Chief of Army Staff, General Zia ul Haq, who had pledged personal allegiance to him at the time of his appointment in 1976, turned against him and ultimately ousted him through a coup on 5 July 1977. Zia, for the sake of his own survival, had Bhutto tried on a charge of conspiracy to murder a political rival and the Supreme Court held him guilty by a controversially divided (four to three) verdict against him. He was hanged on 4 April 1979.

WORKS: 'The Myth of Independence', Karachi, 1969; 'The Great Tragedy', Karachi, 1971; 'If I am Assassinated', New Delhi, 1979.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: J.C. Batra, 'The Trial and Execution of Bhutto', Delhi, 1979; Shahid Javed Burki, 'Pakistan Under Bhutto', 2nd ed., London, 1988; Mubashir Hasan, 'The Mirage of Power', Karachi, 2000; S.N. Kaushik, 'Pakistan Under Bhutto's Leadership', New Delhi, 1985; Piloo Mody, 'Zulji, My Friend', Delhi, 1973; Dilip Mukherji, 'Zulfikar Ali Bhutto: Quest for Power', New Delhi, 1972; Rafi Raza, 'Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and Pakistan', Karachi, 1997; Victoria Schofield, 'Bhutto; Trial and Execution', London, 1979; Anwar Husain Syed, 'The Discourse and Politics of Zuljikar Ali Bhutto', New York, 1992; Salman Taseer, 'Bhutto: A Political Biography', London, 1979; Stanley Wolpert, 'Zulfi Bhutto of Pakistan', New York, 1993.