Benazir Bhutto was always destined for a political career shaped in no mean measure by her illustrious father who was removed from the highest office in a coup, imprisoned and executed. It was a baptism of blood.

Shaikh Ayaz, the greatest Sindhi poet of the 20^th century, once told writer Jamal Abro “I think after Shah Latif [Bhitai] [ZA] Bhutto is only the second genius that his land has produced”. Bhutto was the first person in modern history to unite the people of Sindh. His charisma appealed equally to the peasants, industrial workers, educated middle class and conservative feudal lords. During the pre-independence days and for decades after the creation of Pakistan the Sindhi society was deeply divided. Big landlords, pirs, syeds, nawabs and tribal chiefs had their fiefdoms and were perennially at one another’s throat for petty interests.

No political party popular across Sindh had existed prior to Bhutto’s arrival. The major political parties one sees today, including the Jeay Sindh Tehreek and the Awami Tehreek were organized after the Pakistan Peoples Party. Throughout the 1950s and the 1960s Sindhi intelligentsia and the emerging middle class had struggled to establish a political platform to resist the One Unit. The PPP filled that political void its ideology, his charisma and long association with power. ZAB’s contemporaries had lacked the vision to organise the Sindhi masses and take the electoral route to power. The significance of his achievement was not lost on them. GM Syed was later quoted as saying “After Raja Dahar, Bhutto is first Sindhi ruler”.

Benazir Bhutto’s place in Sindhi politics, therefore, has to be seen in the context of ZAB’s influence, reach and footprint. The unwavering support she enjoyed in the Sindhi society cannot be judged in isolation from the context and political legacy of ZA Bhutto. Given the inheritance she had to prove herself worthy of it for the masses to acknowledge that she represented a continuation of ZAB’s role.

It is important to note that under Benazir Bhutto, the PPP did not change in terms of its leadership composition. The late Ahmad Bashir was spot on when he said that “the PPP is a party of the masses led by the elite.” The composition of the party councils reflects this fact even today. In fact the PPP has nurtured and promoted a whole new crop of political elite including Manzoor Wassan in Khairpur, Khursheed Shah in Sukkur, Zulfiqar Mirza in Badin and Pir Mazhar in Dadu. These political activists from the yesteryears have attained the status of founders of new dynasties thereby blocking the momentum for change and preserving the status quo in Sindh.

The Sindhi masses’ love and devotion for Benazir Bhutto was inspired by her courage and consistency in resisting Gen Zia’s martial law and her fight in defence of a democratic constitutional federal polity. They respected her willingness to sacrifice personal comfort to carry on with her political mission. Meanwhile, the ‘deep state’ viewed her as a ‘security risk’. As a result while she could not always be excluded from power she never had the free and open space needed to make monumental change. She was twice removed prematurely from an elected office. In four elections, she was stopped by using a range of means including blatant rigging, political engineering and horse trading. How Gen Musharraf created the PPP-Patriots faction to deny her power in Sindh and at the Centre is part of the living memory.

This did not stop the Sindhi voters from following her passionately. There was a sense of sadness always for being unable not save her father. During the Movement for Restoration of Democracy (MRD), it was unthinkable for the Sindhi masses not to stand behind her as one people. No wonder, in the 1988 elections the mightiest of local lords and political pirs backed by the establishment, lost to her party. Even those who won the odd election later regularly lost to her party and it emerged that their rare success could only be credited to manipulation. MNA Shazia Marri’s election from her Sanghar constituency is an example of this.

Benazir Bhutto created her own legacy of resistance, bravery and an intense feeling for the people and the country. The people saw her return to Pakistan in 2007, undeterred by threats against her life. They saw her stay even after the Karsaz attack on October 17. In her return to the country and her stubborn refusal to quit in the face of all threats they saw her commitment to the democratic process and transition to civilian rule. They realized that if it came to that she would willingly lay down her life for her political values.

Like her father, Benazir Bhutto could not be defeated politically because she had come to symbolise the hope for a stable, pro-poor Pakistan where the marginalised including women and minorities could be protected. The grief of the Sindhi masses following her assassination showed this.

Today, even the Sindhis who have some differences with the PPP and vote against party respect and honour Benazir Bhutto and what she stood for. That is why she is called Shaheed Sindh Rani(Sindh’s martyred queen).

The author is a staff reporter for The News. Follow his work at www.mushtaqrajpar.com