| Zulifqar Ali Bhutto was the son of Shahnawaz Bhutto born
on 5th January 1928 in Larkana, Pakistan. He attended Bombay’s (now
Mumbai) Cathedral High School and went to the University of Southern California (USC) in
1947. He stayed there for quite sometime before moving on to Christ College, Oxford in
1950. Young Bhutto appeared for his bar examinations at Lincoln’s Inn in 1953 thereby
becoming a full-fledged lawyer and had a successful law practice there before returning to
Karachi in 1957. From then onwards, he held several cabinet posts (between 1958-1963) and
was later made the foreign minister. Bhutto
formed the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) in 1967 and emerged victorious in the
elections held in 1970. He refused to cooperate with former East Pakistan’s (now
known as Bangladesh) main political party, the Awami League that eventually led to the
fall of Bangladesh. Z.A. Bhutto became the President of Pakistan in 1971 and then invited
the leaders of the parliamentary parties to discuss the preparation of an Islamic
constitution for the country. Thus, a new constitution came into effect from 14th
August 1973, the salient features of which are as follows:
- Islamic provisions
- Provisions for fundamental rights
- Introduction of the parliamentary system and free judiciary
(The second amendment was added later which declared the
Ahmadis as non-Muslims. This constitution also made him the Prime Minister of Pakistan)
Z.A. Bhutto withdrew Pakistan from Britain’s
Commonwealth of Nations and U.S. dominated SEATO and then nationalized all industries in a
bid to save the Pakistani economy from collapsing altogether. This was immediately
followed by the announcement of a new labour policy to appease the workers. Among other
things, he inaugurated Pakistan’s first nuclear plat on 28th November
1973, visited almost all the Muslim countries, set Pakistani soldiers to fight against the
Jews and organized the second Islamic Summit in 1974 at Lahore.
However, what really lit the fuse for his unpopularity were
his ‘modern’ ideologies. He wanted Karachi to look like a ‘modern European
promenade.’ For this purpose, he ordered the construction of a casino hotel at
Clifton beach, which proved to be a massive blow to the religious beliefs of the people of
Pakistan. Eventually, the level of discontentment and resentment rose with the help of the
extremist religious elements like the Jamat-I-Islami and the Jamiat-ul-Ulema-e-Pakistan.
Finally on 5th July 1977, the Bhutto era came to
a tragic end when Gen. Zia-ul-Haq took over the government and arrested all politicians
including Bhutto. Zia-ul-Haq had him convicted and then sent to the gallows on 4th
April 1979. |
