Opinion
PPP: The Bhutto Family Heirloom By Mayank Chhaya
Now that the exultant and gushing tributes on Benazir Bhutto's martyrdom
for the cause of democracy are subsiding, let's subject the world to
some reality check. As we do so, let's be as poker faced as possible.
For, democracy is but a great idea in Pakistan's feudal politics. There
is no real danger of it becoming a reality there just yet. After all, it
has only been 60 years since Mohammad Ali Jinnah founded the country.
Bhutto, "chairperson for life" of the Pakistan People's Party (PPP),
actually left behind a will naming her husband Asif Ali Zardari as her
successor. Bhutto left the will in the event that the remaining members
of the PPP developed some genuine taste for democracy and elected a real
non-Bhutto successor after internal elections. As a fig leaf of
legitimacy, Zardari named Makhdoom Amin Fahim as co-chairman of the
party. Together they then unveiled the true face of democracy in
appointing Bilawal, the 19-year-old son of Zardari and Bhutto, as the
head of the party.
The PPP is a great political asset that Zulfikar Ali Bhutto bequeathed
to his daughter who in turn passed it on to her teenaged son. And unless
Pakistan's violent ways intervene, Bilawal Bhutto will presumably have a
long innings as "chairman for life". It is all so brazen and no one has
the time or sense to ask about the underlying contradiction in the late
Benazir Bhutto's untiring claims of bringing democracy to Pakistan on
the one hand and keeping the party as a family heirloom on the other.
Even if one disregards the obvious question about a teenager's
qualification to lead Pakistan's main opposition party, one is still
left with the larger and more troubling question about the kind of
democracy that the country can hope for.
Consider the choices before the people of Pakistan: a military dictator
(Pervez Musharraf), a discredited politician (Zardari or Nawaz Sharif)
or a callow 19-year-old (Bilawal). Suddenly Pervez Musharraf may not
seem like a terrible idea. That is the irony of the way Pakistan has
gone about creating its polity - a military dictator who came to power
in a coup seems like the best option. The benchmark for democracy is so
low.
Of course, it is entirely possible that like his mother, who also
started very young, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari would learn the tricks of the
trade quickly. That is precisely the point - they are the tricks of the
trade, and tricks are by their very nature shortlived. In a normal,
healthy democracy with a long history the rise of a teenager might have
signalled a progressive move. But in Pakistan it is nothing more than a
cynical ploy to retain the ownership of a political apparatus by those
who stand to benefit from it directly.
Zardari has announced his party's intention to participate in the
elections. Quickly taking a cue from it, Sharif too has now decided to
take part. At some level, it is a good sign that elections will be held
with the full participation of the two main political parties. However,
as we all know, democracy is much more than self-serving electoral
politics. Merely because Bilawal has been anointed a successor without a
single voice of dissent does not mean that democracy is striking roots
in Pakistan. In fact, the manner of his appointment is a clear sign that
the country has learned nothing from its volatile history.
Quite like India's Congress party, where the Nehru/Gandhi family has
ruled the best part of the last 60 years, the PPP too remained a Bhutto
fiefdom. At least India has had a long and impressive history of having
built a genuine political culture, which acts as a bulwark against a
single family's dominance. In Pakistan, no such political culture
exists. Cricket superstar-turned-politician Imran Khan's Tehrik-e-Insaaf
is but a tentative attempt at providing a reasonable alternative. It is
anybody's guess whether it can acquire the kind of traction so necessary
to take Pakistan toward a genuine political democracy.
(Mayank Chhaya is a Chicago-based writer and commentator. He can be
reached at chooki6@yahoo.com)
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