Zulfikar Ali Bhutto

Zulfikar Ali Bhutto (Urdu: ذوالفقار علی بھٹو, Sindhi: ذوالفقار علي ڀُٽو, IPA: [zʊlfɪqɑːɾ ɑli bʱʊʈːoː]) (5 January 1928 – 4 April 1979) was a Pakistani politician and statesman who served as the 9th Prime Minister of Pakistan from 1973 to 1977, and prior to that as the 4th President of Pakistan from 1971 to 1973. He was also the founder of the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) and served as its chairman until his execution in 1979.^[2]

Educated at USC,^[3] Berkeley and Oxford, Bhutto trained as a barrister at Lincoln's Inn. He entered politics as one of President Iskander Mirza's cabinet members, before being assigned several ministries during President Ayub Khan's military rule from 1958. Appointed Foreign Minister in 1963, Bhutto was a proponent of Operation Gibraltar in Indian-occupied Kashmir, leading to war with India in 1965.

 

After the Tashkent Agreement ended hostilities, Bhutto fell out with Ayub and was sacked from government. He founded the PPP in 1967, contesting general elections held by President Yahya Khan in 1970. The Awami League in East Pakistan won a majority of seats, but neither Yahya nor Bhutto signalled yielding power. Subsequent uprisings led to the secession of Bangladesh, and Pakistan losing the war against Bangladesh-allied India in 1971. Bhutto was handed over the presidency in December 1971 and emergency rule was imposed.

 

By July 1972, Bhutto had recovered 93,000 prisoners of war and 5,000 square miles of Indian-held territory after signing the Simla Agreement.^[4][5] He strengthened ties with China and Saudi Arabia, recognised Bangladesh, and hosted the second Organisation of the Islamic Conference in Lahore in 1974.^[4] Domestically, Bhutto's reign saw parliament unanimously approve a new constitution in 1973, upon which he appointed Fazal Ilahi Chaudhry President and switched to the newly empowered office of Prime Minister. He also played an integral role in initiating the country's atomic bomb programme.^[6][7] However, Bhutto's nationalisation of much of Pakistan's fledgling industries, healthcare, and educational institutions led to economic stagnation. After dissolving provincial governments in Balochistan was met with unrest, Bhutto also ordered an army operation in the province in 1973, causing thousands of civilian casualties.^[8]

 

Despite civil disorder, aggravated by incidents of repression by Bhutto's Federal Security Force, the PPP won parliamentary elections in 1977 by a wide margin. However, the opposition alleged widespread vote rigging, and violence escalated across the country. On 5 July that same year, Bhutto was deposed by his appointed army chief General Zia-ul-Haq in a bloodless coup^[9] before being controversially tried and executed by the Supreme Court of Pakistan in 1979 for authorising the murder of a political opponent.^[5][10] While Bhutto remains a contentious figure in Pakistan's history, his party, the PPP, remains Pakistan's largest national political party, his daughter Benazir Bhutto twice served as Prime Minister,^[2] and his son-in-law and Benazir's husband, Asif Ali Zardari, was the recent President.

Early life

Bhutto came from the prominent Sindhi landowning Bhutto family,^[11] born to Sir Shah Nawaz Bhutto and Khursheed Begum née Lakhi Bai in his parent's residence near Larkana. Bhutto's father was a prominent political figure in the Indian colonial government. He was their third child – their first one, Sikandar Ali, died from pneumonia at age seven in 1914 and the second child, Imdad Ali, died of cirrhosis at the age of 39 in 1953.^[12] His father was the prime minister of Junagadh State, and enjoyed an influential relationship with the officials of the British Raj. As a young boy, Bhutto moved to Worli Seaface in Bombay (now Mumbai) to study at the Cathedral and John Connon School. During this period, he also became a student activist in the social movement and nationalist league, the Pakistan Movement. In 1943, his marriage was arranged with Shireen Amir Begum (died 19 January 2003 in Karachi). He later left her, however, in order to remarry. In 1947, Bhutto was admitted to the University of Southern California to study political science.^[2]

 

In 1949, as college sophomore, Bhutto transferred to the University of California, Berkeley, where he earned a B.A. (honours) degree in Political science in 1950.^[2] Here, Bhutto would become interested in the theories of socialism, delivering a series of lectures on the feasibility of socialism in Islamic countries. During this time, Bhutto's father, Sir Shahnawaz, played a controversial role in the affairs of the state of Junagadh (now in Gujarat). Coming to power in a palace coup as the dewan, he secured the accession of the state to Pakistan, which was ultimately negated by Indian intervention in December 1947.^[13] In June 1950, Bhutto travelled to the United Kingdom to study law at Christ Church— a constituent college of the University of Oxford— and received an LLB, followed by another advanced LLM degree in Law and M.Sc. (honours) degree in Political science.^[2] Upon finishing his studies, he was called to the bar at Lincoln's Inn in the year 1953 (the same school at which Muhammad Ali Jinnah studied law).^[2]

 

Bhutto married his second wife, the Iranian-Kurdish Begum Nusrat Ispahani,^[14] in Karachi on 8 September 1951. Their first child, his daughter Benazir, was born in 1953. She was followed by Murtaza in 1954, a second daughter, Sanam, in 1957, and the youngest child, Shahnawaz Bhutto, in 1958. He accepted the post of lecturer at the Sindh Muslim College, from where he was also awarded an honorary doctorate —honoris causa— in law by the then college President, Hassanally Rahman before establishing himself in a legal practice in Karachi. He also took over the management of his family's estate and business interests after his father's death.

Political career

In 1957, Bhutto became the youngest member of Pakistan's delegation to the United Nations. He addressed the United Nations Sixth Committee on Aggression on 25 October 1957 and led Pakistan's delegation to the first United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea in 1958. That same year, Bhutto became the youngest Pakistan cabinet minister, on appointment to the Ministry of Water and Power by President Field Marshal Ayub Khan, who had seized power and declared martial law in a successful coup d'état.^[2] In 1960, he was promoted to Minister of the Ministry of Commerce, the Ministry of Communications, and the Ministry of Industry. Bhutto became a close and trusted political advisor to Field Marshal Ayub Khan, rising in influence and power despite his youth and relative inexperience in politics. Bhutto aided Ayub Khan in negotiating the Indus Water Treaty in India in 1960. In 1961, Bhutto negotiated an oil exploration agreement with the Soviet Union, which agreed to provide economic and technical aid to Pakistan.

Foreign Minister

Bhutto was a Pakistani nationalist and a socialist,^[15] with particular views on the type of democracy needed in Pakistan.^[16] On becoming Foreign Minister in 1963, his socialist viewpoint influenced him to embark on a close relationship with the neighbouring People's Republic of China.^[16] Bhutto adhered to the One-China policy.^[16] At the time, many other countries accepted Taiwan as the legitimate single government of China, although two governments each claimed to be "China".^[16] In 1964, the Soviet Union and its satellite states broke off relations with Beijing over ideological differences, and only Albania and Pakistan supported the People's Republic of China. Bhutto staunchly supported Beijing in the UN, and in the UNSC, while also continuing to build bridges to the United States.^[16][17] Bhutto's strong advocacy of developing ties with China came under severe criticism from the United States.

 

President Johnson wrote a letter to President Ayub Khan calling on him to fire Mr Bhutto and to only maintain ties with the "free world".^[18] As vibrant as he was, Bhutto addressed his speeches in a demagogic style and headed Ministry of Foreign Affairs with an aggressive leadership. His style of leading the Foreign Ministry and his swift rise to power brought him national prominence and popularity. Bhutto and his staff visited Beijing and were received by the Chinese with a warm welcome, and Bhutto greeted Mao Zedong with great respect.^[19] There, Bhutto helped Ayub negotiate trade and military agreements with the Chinese regime, which agreed to help Pakistan in a large number of military and industrial projects.^[19] Bhutto signed the Sino-Pakistan Boundary Agreement on 2 March 1963 that transferred 750 square kilometres of territory from Pakistan-administered Kashmir to Chinese control. Bhutto asserted his belief in non-alignment, making Pakistan an influential member in non-aligned organisations. Believing in Pan-Islamic unity, Bhutto developed closer relations with nations such as Indonesia, Saudi Arabia and other Arab states. Bhutto significantly transformed Pakistan's hitherto pro-Western foreign policy. While maintaining a prominent role for Pakistan within the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization and the Central Treaty Organization, Bhutto began asserting a foreign policy course for Pakistan that was independent of U.S. influence. Meanwhile, Bhutto visited both East and West Germany and established a strong link between two countries.^[20] Bhutto proceeded economical, technological, industrial and military agreements with Germany.

 

Bhutto strengthened Pakistan's strategic alliance with Germany.^[21] Bhutto addressed a farewell speech at the University of Munich where he cited the importance of Pakistan and German relations.^[22] Bhutto then visited Poland and established diplomatic relations in 1962.^[23] Bhutto used Pakistan Air Force's Brigadier-General Władysław Józef Marian Turowicz to establish the military and economical link between Pakistan and Poland.^[24] Bhutto sought and reached to the Polish-Pakistan community in Pakistan and made a tremendous effort for a fresh avenues for mutual cooperation.