Monday, December 31, 2007

Why Benazir is not Aung San Suu Kyi

''She is part Radcliffe and Oxford, with an extremely well-stocked mind, full of feminist literature, peace marches, the Oxford Union, and with a very liberated social life. She is also part feudal Sindh, a haughty aristocrat, the daughter and granddaughter of immensely wealthy landlords, whose inheritance gave her the right to rule. . . .

She is an Eastern fatalist by birth, a Western liberal by conviction, and a people-power revolutionary—who has carefully modelled herself on Evita PerĂ³n and Corazon Aquino—through sheer necessity. She is an expensively educated product of the West who has ruled a male-dominated Islamic society of the East. She is a democrat who appeals to feudal loyalties.''

Mary Anne Weaver: Profile for New Yorker

In another democratic move, the daughter and darling of the west, in her will, decided to chose her 19 year old son as the legitimate heir of the feudal dynasty.

Her will clearly shows that even from her grave, she wants to make sure that feudalism thrives in the country and democracy is trampled and crushed under the heels of nepotism and corruption.

She could have asked the party to elect another leader in a democratic way, but instead she ensured that the party remains firmly in the control of her family and leaders like Aitizaz Ihsan are sidelined.

She has shown her true colors and rewarded the workers of PPP by appointing her son as the heir of her corrupt empire.

What ever happened to the ideals of democracy. This episode resembles the appointment of teenage medieval monarchs, who used to find themselves at the helm of the affairs when one of their parents used to pass away.

Like her mother, Bilawal has lived most of his life overseas, cannot speak any local language properly, has never worked in public service of Pakistan or the social sector of Pakistan and like her mother will finally return back to become the Prime minister. Such a pity. No wonder Pakistanis cannot make progress.

Lets stop making an Aung San Suu Kyi out of her because Aung San has been virtually under house arrest by the Burmese military for the past 15 years. Ms Aung was given the option to leave the country to meet her family in Britian with the condition that if she leaves, she would never be allowed to return back. Ms Aung chose to stay back with her people, not meet her family members and sacrifice her family life for the sake of her country. Her husband died of prostate cancer and she was never able to meet him.

I hope I would be spared the burden of enlightening my fellow countrymen on the comparison of Ms Aung, a true leader and revolutionary, and Ms Bhutto , a corrupt, feudal , opportunist, riding
on the wave of fame and popularity of her father.

So before my sentimental and emotional country men go about decorating Ms Bhutto with titles she never deserved, please look around for suitable examples of true leaders like Ms Aung and Nelson Mandela. True leaders do not live in Dubai and London or the palaces of Saudi Kings and return when they see an opportunity to seize power or when they are assured of support by Uncle Sam.

Now I am really happy that we finally got rid of her.

I hope we can get rid of the rest of the lot too!

Further Readings

Aunt Benazir's false promises: Fatima Bhutto takes on her aunt

Daughter of the West: Tariq Ali,an ex-classmate of BB from Oxford

Pakistan's culture of violence

Pakistan's flawed feudal Princess

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