The Hindu : International : PPP is a powerful force, says Benazir

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Friday, Oct 19, 2007
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International

PPP is a powerful force, says Benazir

Nirupama Subramanian

“Party played crucial role in Musharraf’s decision on dual posts”

— PHOTO: AFP

TUMULTUOUS WELCOME: Supporters of the former Pakistan Prime Minister, Benazir Bhutto, dance as they gather outside the Jinnah Airport terminal in Karachi on Thursday to welcome the returning leader.

KARACHI: The massive turn-out of people to welcome her back to Pakistan was a message to opponents of democracy that they were dealing with the country’s most powerful party, Benazir Bhutto said in a brief conversation with The Hindu after her arrival on Thursday.

“I am told there are three million people here. They have come from all over, from the frontier, from the tribal areas, from Punjab. It shows that Pakistan People’s Party represents the federation of Pakistan, it represents all the people of Pakistan,” Ms. Bhutto said.

The huge crowds made it necessary for Ms. Bhutto to make her dramatic entry on a top of a specially-fitted and modified container truck from a terminal at Karachi’s old airport, used now by Haj pilgrims and for logistics and courier flights.

But the welcome was no less stunning for this. The crowds had begun gathering early and by 1 p.m., some minutes before the Emirates flight bringing her from Dubai was to land, had swelled to an estimated 60,000 outside the terminal, despite efforts by the police to keep all but a few supporters and the media out.

At one point, police resorted to a mild baton-charge to keep the crowds from overrunning the terminal building before Ms. Bhutto’s arrival, and “commandos” from the PPP’s youth wing had to form human chains at several places outside the terminal to prevent stampeding.

Rumours that the government was trying to persuade Ms. Bhutto to take a helicopter into the city did nothing to relax the crowds as they waited for their leader to come out.

Viewing the scene from the top of her truck, the former Prime Minister, dressed in a green shirt and jacket teamed with a white salwar and a cream dupatta over her head, said it was now essential for the country to move towards democracy. On her arm, she wore a band with a religious inscription. She described the controversial National Reconciliation Ordinance, under which all cases of corruption have been withdrawn against her, enabling her to return without the fear of arrest, as the “first step” in restoring democracy to Pakistan.

Ms. Bhutto, who holds that the cases against her were political vendetta, said the court should not strike down the ordinance as it had put an end to “the persecution of innocent people”.

Defending the ordinance, she said the PPP had played a big role in President Musharraf’s decision to relinquish his military post after his re-election, expected if the Supreme Court, which is hearing legal challenges to his election, validates his election.

“If the PPP had not opposed it, he would not have been [forced to make that decision]. The PPP is a powerful force, as you can see,” she said, pointing to the sea of people below.

The efforts by Gen. Musharraf and the government to persuade the PPP leader to put off her return have only made her comeback seem all the more defiant in the eyes of her supporters.

Ms. Bhutto’s show of strength, which is likely to remain unabated in the coming weeks, will be watched closely for its implications for Pakistan’s political scene.

Kaiser Bengali, a pro-PPP economist, said the huge turn-out would create its

own momentum. “In mathematical terms, this is an intercept change,” said Mr. Bengali,

predicting that it could lead to quantum changes in Pakistan’s polity. “This could be the starting point of the long process towards taking power away from the secret corridors of the military and giving it back to the people,” Mr. Bengali said.

Inevitably, Thursday’s reception was compared to the welcome Ms. Bhutto received when she returned in 1986, seven years after her father was hanged by the Zia regime.

Zahid Hussain, a senior journalist, who was present in Karachi on that occasion said in 1986, there was a euphoria among ordinary people, not just party workers. Still, he said, the turn-out would have “its psychological, bandwagoning effect”.

“It may have a huge impact on the country’s politics,” he said. Party leaders who had doubts that Ms. Bhutto’s deal had tarnished her image are now saying there never was any deal with the Musharraf regime.

“There was an acceptance on the part of the government that Benazir Bhutto, as the leader of the largest party in Pakistan, had to be allowed back in the country. But Ms. Bhutto has not associated herself with the regime,” said former Pakistan ambassador to the United States Abida Hussain, also a member of the PPP.

Ms. Hussain said the crowds proved that PPP was going to win the next parliamentary elections.

“If Musharraf is watching television, if it has not been blocked, I think he will have to acknowledge that Benazir Bhutto is the tallest leader of Pakistan, the PPP is the largest party of Pakistan and that he and the military have to accept this and give us the space to function,” said Ms. Hussain.

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