Guest blog by temporal from Baithak
I have been writing about Benazir Bhutto’s will. Finally they released it today.
The key sentence there is “I would like my husband Asif Ali Zardari to lead you in this interim until you and he decide what is best.” (emphasis mine)
[Pending certification of this will by handwriting experts and other issues circulating such as a hefty life insurance on her taken by Zardari I feel a tad of remorse at the harsh stand I took here. I had blamed her for treating the party as her jaagir – her personal fiefdom and acting all haughty and feudal.]
Her will is dated October 16, 2007 just two days prior to her departure for Karachi. From here we learn:
I had become aware, through messages sent by Musharraf, that suicide squads might be sent from the North West Frontier Province and Federally Administered Tribal Areas to try to assassinate me immediately on my return. I had actually received from a sympathetic Muslim foreign government the names and cellphone numbers of designated assassins.
Couple this with her ease and familiarity with the English language. Hence the words interim is both significant and intriguing.
She could have anticipated a worst case scenario – her death mid-campaign. In this case the word interim would indicate just that. There is no mention of her teenage son Bilawal Zardari in this portion of her Will.
Charitably, It could be construed from these words that she meant that the CEC (Central Executive Committee of the PPP) would democratically elect another leader afterwards.
But this also raises the following questions:
- Why the need to change names in a hurry? Remember this announcement came just the day after her assassination, when everyone, including her children were in shock. [Backgrounder: Bilawal Zardari and her two daughters added Bhutto to their names.]
- Why the Machiavellian rush to accept the mantle and pass it on immediately to young Bilawal?
- Why the delay in not releasing the entire will? Sherry Rahman, PPP spokesperson said the other portion of the will was private and personal. It needs to be pointed out that there is nothing private about a public person. Quaid e Azam’s will is out in public. In fact, it enhances his stature and image, if you have read it.
Back to interim – and being charitable: Asif was designated only as an interim leader. NOT an interim Chairperson. You know what that entails!
And after the January 08 elections, or now after February 18, and after a suitable time lapse, elections would be conducted for the leadership of PPP. Imagine if that were the case.
Aitezaz Ahsan, Amin Fahim, Qureshi, Rabbani, Asif or Bilawal even could contest. That could have been the lasting legacy of Benazir Bhutto.
Comments
5 responses to “Benazir Bhutto’s Will – I May Have Been Harsh”
Who cares anyway, its all academic now. PPP deserves Asif Zardari, Sindh does not! I doubt if there will be any party left for poor ol Bilawal; in any case he’ll have to make do with boozy Susie for now!
What nonsense. Leave the poor kid alone. The bastards paid by the ISI do everything to defame even Bhutto kids
next time when the rats invade ur house blame it on ISI
for god shake love Pakistan not individuals.
BB was the property of the people of pakistan not her husband her will was ours not PPPs if we had some kind of unity we could have demnaded that will to be published excatly at that time but nooooo we r so ignorant and emotional people that we did not see what was happing behind the closed doors of CeC but we r yet so brillinat and educated to see that ISI is defaming the poor Bilawar( who even does not even know urdu)
I dont understand one thing that if PPP is after name, as they have shown and proved after Benazirs death, their sudden appointment of Bilawal Zardari as PPP chariman was shock for all world. Then why dont they go for Fatima. Who is real of Bhutto while Bilawal is real blood of Hakim Ali Zardari. Changing his surname will not make him Bhutto. He is son of Zardari and will remain son of Zardari while Fatima is daughter of Bhutto family and will remain daughter of Bhutto family.
I am fan of Fatima. She seems to be ambitious, polite, hardworking, focused, skilled, devoted and committed person. She has already proved to us that she has many skills to be PPP chairperson. She is already in politics. while Bilawal needs to spend years in Oxford to learn what politics is. She is mature lady and have very pleasant personality. While Bilawal is a still school boy.
Pakistan recent judiciary crisis made Pakistan more interesting in world news. Therefore people throughout the world focused on every event in Pakistan. When Bilawal was appointed as PPP chairman, people from other countries were laughing on us that what sort of a country it is. where 19 year guy is appointed as chairman of the biggest political party of the country. Surely Bilawals appointment made people laugh on us and our system of political monarchy..thanks to Asif Zardari and thanks to fake will of Benazir..
I want to appeal workers of PPP to support Fatima Bhutto. leave these corrupt family of Zardaris on side and come and join us to support Fatima Bhutto. Fatimas family has already suffered many times ..this is the right time for us to support her.
Let the emotionsof Benazirs death subside and people and PPP worker will realise and InshAllah everyone will come to Fatima Bhutto.
GOOD LUCK FATIMA..
Fight for your right ..You are one the one who need to be the chairperson of PPPwe are with you.
Syed Habib Orakzai
President Shamla Forum London
urdupashto@yahoo.com
I see these will in a show in
http://www.inner-live.com
I m a big admirator on Benazir, what happen is not fair.