Upsetting -- to the core

A bold great leader he was. He lived and died like a man, a man of great ideals. His unfortunate death was a loss, a great loss indeed. I was not born when he was executed but The Dawn made me live that day.

A sad black day in Pak history ...

The message was loud and clear. He was responsible for the disintegration of Pakistan during 1971 simply because he didn't want to sit in opposition. Remember his famous saying to Shiekh Mujib, " Tum Udhar Hum Idhar".

Injustice

Jiay bhutto....!!!

really heartbreaking......bhutto was a very brilliant man who came into cruel hands of zia.

Why we say politician is the privilege class. They are the one hang , killed and exile just for there political believe .And People like Qadri lives on I bet like a prince even after committing crime openly. People of Pakistan still have hate for democracy and politician and think religion as there savior.

i pay tribute to brilliant leader,s soul.....

I was living in Pindi at the time, there was a lot of turmoil at the time, people offering themselves to be hung instead of Bhutto, my uncle a PPP supporter was in tears..sad time indeed, but those days are dead and buried the current crop are a stain on the party Bhutto created, Bhutto must be spinning in his grave at what his beloved party has become, there is no link left to the Bhutto clan, Zardari just gets Bilawal to use the Bhutto name to fool the party masses....I hope is resting in peace..

Great Leader Pakistan have ever produced. Tragedy is that a true Hero was hanged by a Villain Zia with the help of Judiciary, Mullah and opportunist politicians.

Whereas the manner of his death/murder was indeed a great tragedy, we mustn't forget that Bhutto is at the core of Pakistan's current predicaments. Starting from Operation Gibraltar, to the '71 breakup, to the decidedly undemocratic character of the '73 constitution, to the creation of Afghan mujahideen, to the Baloch militancy.

According to 1970 Pakistan general election result Z. A. Bhutto was supposed to be the opposition leader in Pak national parliament. However, in 1971 Bhutto become the president of Pakistan. Then, why blame General Zia for 1977?

@Ganga Din: But he was tried for a fake and flimsy murder case.You should have tried him for a much much stronger accusation of Breaking Pakistan.

@SYEDA SARA BATOOL: Zia the worst cursed man of our history

Bhutto was the greatest leader after quaid-e-Azam.He lived like a brave leader of Pakistan and died an honourable and graceful death. Till last moment he remained composed and walked to the gallows like a real leader and a brave man.

Justice was served. The sad part is that we still have airports, streets and malls called BHUTTO to this day. This Bhutto guy deserved what he got.

His life and death is a message for those who believe in democracy. .......

@Ganga Din: It is extremely naive to assume that events of 1970/71 led to the separation of East Pakistan, or that Bhutto was the only reason for their separation. The West had started mistreating the East since the early 1950's. West Pakistanis were treating East as a colony and not as equals. By 1970, the gulf was too wide and not bridgeable. It is easy to blame Bhutto, but can anyone, after applying a reasonable sense, believe that Pakistan Army or establishment would have ever let Mujib rule Pakistan. Pakistanis are an information-deprived people. Most of us, for example, still believe that the 1965 was started when and because India 'attacked' Pakistan on 6 September 1965.

@Ganga Din: How naive of you. I hope you watched the history unravel. Bhutto was not in power. It is an excuse to white wash the responsibility of the people who had power and made wrong decisions which resulted in the break up of the country. Why was Yahya not hanged? Moreover Bhutto was not hanged because of break of Pakistan. He was hanged because Zia, who violated the constitution and was affriad that one he will be hanged as laid out in the constitution. The only one who could bring Zia to justice was Bhutto, so it was decided to kill Bhutto before he regains power. Remember, ignorance is not an excuse so please refrain from making comments if you are not aware of facts. By the way I voted against Bhutto in 1970 elections.

Extremely cruel, unjust and sad incident. A great leader. May his soul rest in peace.

@a:Jeay Bhutto

@Ganga Din: East Pakistan was a mistake. The amputation should have been clean & swift, ironically it was anything but. We have been better off.

The period when the downfall of Pakistan started.

@Ganga Din: It is a very misunderstood and misrepresented side of Bhutto's legacy as a savvy politician-nay political thinker. This is all based upon absolutely ill founded conjecture. Taking a comprehensive view of the full spectrum of issues then facing Pakistan with its geopolitical existence as it was then in 1971, it faced a dire threat to its very existence when Sheikh Mujibur-Rehman had won the elections on his long touted six-points a sure recipe for cessation of East Pakistan. It was this agenda that had got Sheikh Mujib the brute majority but only restricted to East Pakistan; and if my memory serves me right he had won no seats in the Western province of the country. With that kind of majority vote on his side, Sheikh Mujib had an absolute monopoly in the national assembly to go there and had his agenda ratified by the majority vote and that would have meant an instant cessation of Pakistan. Mr. Bhutto, being the leader of the majority party in Pakistan, faced a serious dilemma. He is on record for repeatedly asking Mujib to meet outside the parliamentary session and have some kind of negotiated deal which would lead to saving Pakistan as one country and one nation. This was Mr. Bhutto's goal and many other politicians as well were in agreement with Bhutto on this matter. Sheikh Mujib was stubborn like rock and unwilling to accept this proposal from Bhutto. It was a very serious dilemma for the nation and Bhutto. Had Bhutto surrendered to Mujib and gone into the national assembly without any preexisting agreement, Mujib was sure to act on his majority supported mandate and an instant cessation in creation of Bangla Desh would have resulted. There was no way Bhutto or any one could rule out this imminent but nightmarish possibility. Bhutto could not voluntarily sign off one integral part of Pakistan. Had he then agreed to sit with Mujib in the ONE-PAKISTAN assembly, the division of Pakistan would still have been called Bhutto's doing. His decision was absolutely right; he could not allow Pakistan to be disintegrated. Unfortunately, Bhutto was in a situation where it so aptly fitted him ' do, you are damned, don't you are damned'.

@Ganga Din: Before you comment, do you even care to look in to history?

@a: Then, why cry about what is being dished out today in Pakistan with mass murders, raging terrorism, sectarianism and bhatta khori- all sweet fruits of justice well served to Bhutto by Zia and his cohorts that continue to occupy the corridors of power in this beleaguered country and are patronizing the blood thirsty Taliban and Al-Qayeda.

Politics is such a dirty game - why does anyone want to become a politician?

@M. Siddique: I liked your comments very much.Do you see how some people can not hide personal enmity towards others and mutilate facts

This has brought back traumatic memories of this judicial murder by Zia who is single handedly responsible to push Pakistan back in dark ages.

@SYEDA SARA BATOOL: Sara Batool you forgt his cruelty he dismembered the country and was trying to establish his kingdom in West Pakistan.

@SYED ZAFAR KAZMI: That's a very sugar coated analysis. If Shiekh Mujib was in majority, why would he accept any precondition from Bhutto. If Shiekh Mujib's intentions were to create Bangladesh and if National Assembly would have done that, that would have prevented the humiliation of defeat/surrender and 90000 POW's. Bhutto had no foresight and was nothing more than a low class power hungry Pakistani politician that bites the dust.

@Shahjahan Bhutto: Are you one of the Bhutto's that is still around? You have to go back to JunaGarh.

@M. Siddique: Hang Yahya for what? The war had already started in East Pakistan because Bhutto did not accept Shiekh Mujib's majority in the Assembly. You wanna hang Yahya for defeat in East Pakistan? Go Ahead but it was Immature, power hungry and short sighted Bhutto.

@SYED ZAFAR KAZMI: t was a good attempt to falsify history. You put garbage data in and you get garbage out. You are completely wrong in your comments about Z.A. Bhutto

@Ganga Din: Man get out of Bhutto Enmity..His actual words were "Aao Udhar se tum, Idhar se Hum Makhloot Hukoomat (Coalition Govt:) Banaeen." You should go through the history.Bhutto also clarified his words, when he was misunderstood.

My parents, both Iranians, were friends with the Bhutto family. In the 60s, they were introduced to Nusrat khanum and Mr. Bhutto during my dads days at DMC Karachi. My parents were in U.K when the call came in one morning about this sad news. For my dad, Bhutto's death and Shah of Iran's fall were back to back blows. Its sad to relive the story my mom has narrated to me so many times. It was the 70s when Pakistan's decline got triggered. My parents, settled in Karachi since the Khomeni revolution, have seen a Pakistan of the 60s during their student life- a vibrant, tolerant country to the present day mess.

Thank you so much for sharing.... this article makes us realize how valuable democracy, and a great democratic leader is for a country. It was sad sad day for Pakistan when we lost a great leader like Mr. Bhutto

great leader of pakistan shaheed zulfiaqar Ali Bhutto. saahib.. jiye bhutto jiye psf.. regards. Sumair Sahito senior vice presidant MIrpur Sakro distt Thatta..

A historic day ,

@independentthinker: Power and money

@Ganga Din: When one hides behind fake ID's .........I call it a troll! It's not worth commenting on the post

@Mohammed A. Sukhera: The 1970 elections were the first of their kind in Pakistan's history. Prior to that Ayub Khan's Basic Democracy system was in place. The 1970 party based elections unmasked the deep divide between two peoples of the same religion yet different cultural values. The West dominated the East by sheer force and heavy handed civilian administrations. It is true that East Pakistan's Awami League and West Pakistan's PPP emerged as victors, however neither party had any candidates on either side. It is but a matter of time before Pakistan will cease to be what it was in 1971. There will be other leaders to blame, yet everyone will forget the one institution behind it all ..... The Pakistan Army!

with Bhutto, credibility of Pak army died.It is going down hill since then.Now their ex chief is in line of same punishment.But analyse Bhutto correctly.He did harm your country and gave it wrong direction.

A totally false myth has been built around Bhutto, to know the real Bhutto one has to read what his close associates

@Ganga Din: None of the leaders did like Z.A Bhutto for the country in the History of Pakistan. but unfortunately, he was not given time to lead the country anymore.he had a broad vision.

@Leslie: Absolutely - however neither of them last. This greed ends up putting them behind bars or untimely death. Why don't people learn from past mistakes?

There is no doubt ZAB was not only brilliant but also very brave. Nevertheless, by looking the other way while some of his party members were engaged in massive corruption and by nationalizing large industry, he did significant harm to Pakistan. Unknowingly, he laid the foundation for corruption and the lack of responsibility to excel in education and work as a way of life in Pakistan.

@Ganga Din: And what a dearly end to the ZIA (CRUEL). Justice was brought by NATURE. Had the Bhutto not been hanged, pakistanis would have been a far developed (socially, economically, educated) and honourable today in the world more than indians from the subcontinent.

@Nadeem Chaudhry : Complete Non-Sense.

Sadly there is no article six for the supporter of the dictator Ziaul Haq. Will Bilawal Bhutto Zardari file a case against the murder of ZAB. This was a bigger tragedy then the killing of Bugti anf Moulana Abdul Aziz of Lal masjid. Justice needs to be served.

Mr. Bhutto should be remembered as a great leader of Pakistan. He demanded respect from other leaders of the world and could say the right stuff without any fear. He was murdered by Zia when he saw that Bhutto saheb was still extremely popular after the Martial Law. Bhutto sahib gave us a solid comprehensive constitution, old age pension for employees, defined the role of government, and made us great atomic power which has kept us a free nation. He built a famous road ( SR Faisal ) in Karachi, Karachi steel mill and current Atomic Energy research facility. No doubt he was a flawed man like most of us with weaknesses and yet he was great leader. Sadly the nation accepted the murder without any objection.

The day and the article reminds how fragile the Judicial system in Pakistan is. In the past Judiciary always obeyed the wishes of dictators. We simply lack institutions and individuals who can stand firmly on what their profession demands and they pledge to it during the oath.

When I see you and how you are, I close my eyes to the other.

@Nadeem Chaudhry : Pakistan's first constitution was passed by the Assembly on 29th February 1956 and became effective on March 23, 1956. The 1956 constitution provided for Parliamentary form of government with all the executive powers in the hands of Prime Minister. Under 1956 Constitution, legislative powers were vested in the Parliament, which consisted of the President and the National Assembly comprising 300 Members divided equally between East and West Pakistan plus 10 women seats (total 310). First general elections were scheduled for early 1959. On October 7, 1958, general Ayub Khan decalred martial law, abrogated the constitution and appointed himself as the head of the state. The young democracy was killed in its infancy and it also opened the door for more military dictators to take over the country. Bhutto did not take any action against Ayub khan for ovrthrowing the civilain government. In my view its very important that we must punish Musharraf so that future military officers never think of removing a elected civilain government by force. I agree with you that military played an important role in destablizing our country and there was no justification whatsover for their interference in the democratic process.